Deadline: 4-May-22
Applications are now open for the Russell Sage Foundation’s (RSF) core program on Behavioral Science and Decision Making in Context merges its long-standing program on Behavioral Economics and its special initiative on Decision Making and Human Behavior in Context.
This program encourages perspectives from multiple disciplines, including economics, psychology, political science, sociology, law, public policy, and other social sciences, to further their understanding of economic, social, political, and psychological decision-making processes, attitudes, behaviors, and institutional practices in public and private contexts such as policing/criminal legal systems, employment, housing, politics, racial/ethnic relations, and immigration.
RSF priorities do not include analyses of health or mental health outcomes or health behaviors as these are priorities for other funders. For the same reason, RSF seldom supports studies focused on educational processes or curricular issues but does prioritize analyses of inequities in educational attainment or student performance. Limited consideration will be given to projects that test well-established behavioral effects without examining their context or underlying mechanisms. RSF does not fund studies using data from other countries unless they are part of a comparative project aimed at elucidating social and living conditions in the U.S.
Topics
The kinds of topics and questions that are of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Biases and Misperceptions
- An important contribution of behavioral science has been to analyze the extent to which biases (racial/ethnic, skin color, socioeconomic status, immigration status, political, etc.) affect attitudes and behaviors. RSF is interested in research examining the extent to which implicit and explicit biases and misperceptions affect attitudes and behaviors in employment, criminal, judicial, political, educational, and other settings, and the consequences of these actions. For example:
- To what extent do biases affect judges’ decision making? To what extent have court decisions regarding issues of equity and fairness, including discrimination by sex, voter participation, electoral redistricting, and the racial composition of schools, affected educational, economic, and political outcomes?
- To what extent do teacher behaviors and biases, as well as school and district policies and procedures that inscribe these biases, affect student educational attainment and labor outcomes?
- To what extent and in what ways can behavioral insights improve their understanding of why individuals misperceive information, the consequences of such misperceptions, and how these might be corrected?
- How do assumptions about the legal status of the foreign-born, and their variance by racial, religious, and other factors, influence the attitudes and behaviors of native-born citizens?
- An important contribution of behavioral science has been to analyze the extent to which biases (racial/ethnic, skin color, socioeconomic status, immigration status, political, etc.) affect attitudes and behaviors. RSF is interested in research examining the extent to which implicit and explicit biases and misperceptions affect attitudes and behaviors in employment, criminal, judicial, political, educational, and other settings, and the consequences of these actions. For example:
- Institutions, Policies, Social Structures and Networks
- Institutional actors may hold implicit and explicit biases and misperceptions, which may be reflected and maintained through institutional policies and practices. In this way, systemic racism can be embedded through laws and regulations within society or an organization. It can contribute to discrimination in criminal justice, employment, housing, political power, and educational attainment, among other issues. Similarly, decisions are made not in isolation, but within social structures and within the context of social networks. Networks can influence how many decisions are made in the context of voting, job search, college enrollment, and other behaviors relevant to social and economic mobility, poverty, and inequality. RSF is interested in research examining the extent to which and how institutions, policies, social structures, and networks affect attitudes and behavior. For example:
- What are the social, political, economic, and psychological causes and consequences of racial disparities in policing and criminal justice?
- To what extent and how do neighborhoods, organizations, and other contexts in which people form and maintain networks shape their social, economic, and political attitudes and behaviors?
- How do political and social movements such as Black Lives Matter affect political attitudes and behaviors?
- To what extent has increased inequality affected economic, political, and educational behaviors?
- To what extent does economic (in)security and (dis)trust in institutions influence financial decisions, political attitudes and behaviors, and treatment of others?
- Institutional actors may hold implicit and explicit biases and misperceptions, which may be reflected and maintained through institutional policies and practices. In this way, systemic racism can be embedded through laws and regulations within society or an organization. It can contribute to discrimination in criminal justice, employment, housing, political power, and educational attainment, among other issues. Similarly, decisions are made not in isolation, but within social structures and within the context of social networks. Networks can influence how many decisions are made in the context of voting, job search, college enrollment, and other behaviors relevant to social and economic mobility, poverty, and inequality. RSF is interested in research examining the extent to which and how institutions, policies, social structures, and networks affect attitudes and behavior. For example:
- Motivations, Incentives and Choice Architecture
- Individuals respond to incentives, and to a broad array of social, political, psychological, economic, and cultural motivations. Moreover, the ways in which options are presented to individuals (Choice Architecture) can impact their behavior. RSF is interested in research on the consequences of choice architecture and motivated behavior for social, economic, and political inequalities. For example:
- To what extent and how do motivations (e.g., sense of belonging, group identity, self-improvement, etc.) affect behavior and decisions related to employment, socioeconomic wellbeing, mobility, or political participation?
- What public messages and appeals might encourage self-focused, protective, or antagonistic behaviors and what might foster altruistic, pro-social behaviors?
- To what extent and how does choice architecture impact social, economic, political, and racial/ethnic inequalities? To what extent do “smart defaults” improve the wellbeing of individuals in employment, criminal, judicial, political, educational, and other settings?
- Individuals respond to incentives, and to a broad array of social, political, psychological, economic, and cultural motivations. Moreover, the ways in which options are presented to individuals (Choice Architecture) can impact their behavior. RSF is interested in research on the consequences of choice architecture and motivated behavior for social, economic, and political inequalities. For example:
- Habits, Time Preferences, Mental Bandwidth and Behavior Change
- Many human behaviors are not openly motivated, in the sense that they are habitual, intuitive, taken-for-granted, or otherwise not reflective. Time preferences and burdens on mental bandwidth (e.g., due to poverty or other forms of scarcity) shape behaviors, both consciously and subconsciously. RSF is interested in research examining how consequential habits are formed and changed, and the extent to which habits, mental burdens and preferences affect social, economic, and political attitudes and behaviors. For example:
- How are socioeconomically consequential habits formed and changed? To what extent does group membership affect the process?
- What are the limits of nudges and similar interventions that seek to modify the choice architecture involved in social, economic, legal, and political decisions and behaviors?
- What role do mental burdens play in social, economic, political, and legal decisions and behaviors?
- To what extent are the consequences of time preferences beneficial or detrimental to human welfare and related policies?
- Many human behaviors are not openly motivated, in the sense that they are habitual, intuitive, taken-for-granted, or otherwise not reflective. Time preferences and burdens on mental bandwidth (e.g., due to poverty or other forms of scarcity) shape behaviors, both consciously and subconsciously. RSF is interested in research examining how consequential habits are formed and changed, and the extent to which habits, mental burdens and preferences affect social, economic, and political attitudes and behaviors. For example:
- Affect and Emotions
- Emotions can shape attitudes and behaviors both consciously and subconsciously. RSF is interested in supporting research that examines the extent to which emotions influence social, economic, legal, and political attitudes and behaviors. For example:
- What role do emotions play in social, economic, political, and legal decisions and behaviors
- To what extent have anxieties about immigrant integration and national identity contributed to the rise of nativism?
- To what extent does fear and anxiety of detention and deportation affect immigrants’ decisions and behaviors?
- Emotions can shape attitudes and behaviors both consciously and subconsciously. RSF is interested in supporting research that examines the extent to which emotions influence social, economic, legal, and political attitudes and behaviors. For example:
Funding Information
Funding can be used for research assistance, data acquisition, data analysis, and investigator time for conducting research and writing up results. Trustee Grants are generally capped at $175,000, including 15% indirect costs, over a two-year period. Presidential Awards are capped at $35,000 (no indirect costs). PIs may request up to $50,000 (no indirect costs) when the proposed research project has special needs for gathering data (e.g.: qualitative research) or gaining access to restricted-use data.
Eligibility Criteria
- All applicants (both PIs and Co-PIs) must have a doctorate. In rare circumstances, RSF may consider applications from scholars who do not hold a doctorate but can demonstrate a strong career background that establishes their ability to conduct high-level, peer-reviewed scholarly research. Students may not be applicants.
- RSF particularly encourages early career scholars to apply for Presidential grants or theirPipeline Competition. All nationalities are eligible to apply and applicants do not have to reside in the U.S., but the focus of the proposed research project must be on the U.S. as per their mission.
For more information, visit https://www.russellsage.org/research/funding/behavioral-science-decision-making