Yoella Bereby-Meyer

Senior Academic

About The Lab

In our lab, we study questions related to decision-making in social contexts, including the study of reciprocity, trust, cooperation, fairness, and honesty in social interactions. We are particularly interested in the effects of different types of reasoning (Intuitive/Deliberative) on these processes.

We also study questions related to risk perception and risk-taking across different contexts. Specifically, we examine the construct of Passive Risks, which are risks arising from inaction rather than action, and distinguish them from active risk-taking.

Our lab is also affiliated with The Center for Decision Making and Economic Psychology (DMEP), a multidisciplinary hub with members from different schools and faculties working together on collaborative and engaging research.

Research Topics

Passive and Active Risk-Taking

Risk is not only about what people do - it’s also about what they fail to do. We study passive risk-taking - risks that arise from inaction, such as procrastination or avoidance - and show that it is a distinct domain of risk, with important implications for financial, health, and cyber behavior.

Intuitive vs. Deliberate Decision-Making

Human decisions are shaped by two systems: fast, intuitive “gut” responses and slower, deliberate reasoning. We examine how these systems interact, when deliberation improves outcomes, and how reliance on intuition versus reflection shapes economic, moral, and everyday choices.

Social Preferences

People care about fairness, trust, and reciprocity - not just their own payoffs. We investigate how intuitive emotions and deliberate reasoning jointly shape cooperation, honesty, and altruism, and how these social preferences evolve with experience and across the lifespan.

Social Preferences

Information Seeking and Avoidance

Our research examines why people sometimes seek information out of curiosity and a desire to reduce uncertainty, while at other times deliberately avoid it. We study how both information seeking and deliberate ignorance shape decision making, viewing the latter as a form of passive risk-taking that can influence choices in areas such as health, finance, and long-term planning.

Information Seeking and Avoidance

News

Current Opinion in Psychology – Special issue: Willful Ignorance

Two articles by our lab members were published in a special issue dedicated to the topic of willful ignorance, which is the deliberate decision to avoid information even when its relevance and benefits are clear, and it is offered for free.

SPUDM 2025

Three of our PhD students presented their work at the latest European Association for Decision-Making that took place in Lucca, Italy.

SJDM 2024

Two of our PhD students presented their work at the latest Society for Judgment and Decision-Making (SJDM) conference in San Francisco, November 2024.