Elke Weber is the Gerhard R. Andlinger Professor in Energy and the Environment and professor of psychology and public affairs at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs. Weber's specialty is judgment and decision-making under risk and uncertainty. Her research has investigated psychologically appropriate ways to measure and model individual and cultural differences in risk-taking, specifically in risky financial situations and environmental decision-making and policy. She is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Arts and Sciences and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Research Philosophy

I believe that psychological theory needs to interface with social problems in a two-way dialogue, proving itself with constructive solutions in real-world settings and being enriched and constrained by those settings.

While much of my work draws distinctions between homo economicus and homo sapiens, I also examine individual, group, and cultural differences in time discounting or risk taking and how best to assess and model them. Every research method has strengths and weaknesses, so I approach my questions with a mosaic of answers that draw on lab and field experiments that collect process data, behavioral outcomes, associated brain activation, and more.

I then put all of these insights to use by helping individuals or social planners design decision environments that capitalize on the full range of human capabilities and goals to make wise decisions.

Research Interests

Determinants of Risky Decision Making; Cultural, Age, Gender, and Species Differences in Decision Making under Risk and Uncertainty and Intertemporal Choice; Measurement of Risk Perception and Risk Attitude; Role of Memory and other Cognitive Processes in Preference Construction; Financial Decision Making; Environmental Decision Making; Decision Neuroscience; Neuroeconomics; Better Representation of Human Decision Making in Social Network Models and Complex Adaptive Systems Models