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Research & ProjectsRESEARCH & PROJECTS

Prof. Dr. Hans-Rüdiger Pfister

Projects

Currently funded projects:

 

DFG-Research Project „The role of moral heuristics in processing fragile and conflicting evidence concerning societal risks (DFG Special Priority Program SPP1409 „Science and the general public“).

Period: 2011 - 2013
Funding Agency: DFG

Major societal transformations and technologies such as global warming, genetic engineering, nanotechnology, terrorism, and other risks often imply highly controversial public discussions concerning their causes and consequences. Moreover, societal risks often raise fundamental ethical and moral issues. When evaluating these risks, lay people have to not only comprehend the complex underlying scientific information, they also face the problem of dealing with conflicting scientific findings and interpretations. We examine the hypothesis that lay people resolve uncertainties and ambiguities in the evaluation of scientific evidence by applying so-called moral heuristics in order to form a judgment. A moral heuristic is an intuitive mechanism yielding a judgment about the moral quality of an activity. An epistemic judgment about the correctness or probability of a statement is thereby substituted by a moral judgment about the blameworthiness of a related activity; this process is called attribute substitution. Moral heuristics are based on moral emotions such as indignation or disgust which are immediate reactions triggered by events that are perceived to be morally relevant. We assume that moral heuristics are more likely to be activated if the available evidence about a societal risk is equivocal and conflicting. The close association between moral and epistemic judgments as well as the moralizing of evidence are characteristic features of public discourses about societal risks.

Project management:
Prof. Dr. Hans-Rüdiger Pfister (Leuphana)
Prof. Dr. Gisela Böhm (University of Bergen, Norway).


Psychonics

Psychonics is the interdisciplinary attempt – involving psychology, the cognitive sciences, the affective sciences, the engineering scienes, and computer sciences – to transfer and apply psychological mechanisms and processes to technical systems. The objective is to enable technical systems, in particular computer-based systems, to interact with humans in a more human-like way, thereby improving usability, increase user satisfaction, and reduce errors and accidents in man-machine systems. For example, how are computers to recognize human emotions and respond in an emotionally appropriate way? How can human-computer communication approximate human-human communication, relying on subtle non-verbal, emotional, and behavioral cues? How can human affect be regulated by system feedback, reducing the risk of error-prone behavior? The Psychonics project deals with these problems in the context of car driving: How can drivers' emotions be identified and regulated, and how can driver-car interaction be improved by enable the car to communicate in an emotional way? The objective is to enhance the safety and usefulness of car driving, and at the same time to increase driver satisfaction and provide pleasant experiences.
The project is funded by the 'Niedersächsische Vorab der Volkswagen-Stiftung' and runs from 2008 – 2013. Prime contractor is Prof. Rainer Höger, Leuphana University.

 

Further Research Interests

  • Psychology of Risk:
    Risk and decision making
    Ethical and emotional aspects of risk perception
    Risks of Genetical Engineering / Global environmental risks

    Refer to: Environmental Risks
    Böhm, G., Nerb, J., McDaniels, T., & Spada. H. (Eds.). (2001). Environmental risks: Perception, evaluation and management. Special Issue of "Research in social problems and public policy".
17.01.2013, Tienken