Decision Research Center-History
The Decision Research Center was formerly located in the Department of Psychology and is now located in the Mihaylo School of Business
on the campus of California State University, Fullerton.
The center is a site where faculty and students conduct research on
basic and applied problems in human decision making and judgment. The center was established in 1986 by Michael H. Birnbaum, who served as director or co-director from 1986-2020. Daniel Cavagnaro served as co-director from 2015 and as director, starting in 2020. The picture below shows the location on campus of the decision research center, with snow-capped, Mount Baldy (Mt. San Antonio) beyond. Image by Mike Riley, March 11, 1998.
Psychology is the science of behavior. The psychology of decision making concerns the question of why people choose to do what they do. Why do some people choose to marry? Why do they buy a house? Why do some people not wear seat belts? Why do some people engage in risky, unprotected sex? Why do people gamble? Why buy insurance? Why do some people refuse to be vaccinated against COVID-19? Why do some people risk their life to have cosmetic surgery? The Decision Research Center is dedicated to the scientific study of decision making. The science of decision making is a science about how a rational person should choose, and an empirical study of what choices people actually make. Researchers in behavioral decision making study theories of how people make the choices that they do. Understanding how people make decisions will ultimately help us advise people to make wiser decisions.
To reach Daniel Cavagnaro by EMAIL: DCAVAGNARO (at) FULLERTON.EDU
To home page of Prof. Birnbaum,
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grants No. SBR-9410572, SES-9986436, and BCS-0129453. Any opinions,
findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author and do not necessarily
reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.