Prague Conference on Behavioral Sciences
April 3-4, 2020
In recent years, many experimental findings – upon which behavioral science heavily relies – were found to be incorrect. This development not only undermines the effort to unite the fields dealing with human decision-making but also jeopardizes the real-world applications of these findings (for example, in behavioral public policies).
Prague Conference on Behavioral Sciences connects decision-making researchers and practitioners from various fields such as economics, psychology, evolutionary biology, or anthropology. The main objective of the conference is to provide a platform to critically assess both new and well-established findings. We believe that only accurate theory and transparent methodology can translate into theoretical advancements and functional real-world applications.
Keynote Speakers
Uri Gneezy
Shabnam Mousavi
Jan Hausfeld
University of Konstanz
Accepted Talks
Hana Dvořáčková (VSB - Technical University of Ostrava): The disposition effect in the experimental finance data
The disposition effect has been described in the stock-investing context as a behavioral tendency of investors to hold on to losing stocks for too long and sell winning stocks too soon. In this paper it is examined whether the disposition effect can be confirmed also in the experimental student game of currency trading data set. The presence of the disposition effect leads to the conclusion that students, despite using demo money, were trading with real behavioral bias and various interesting findings concerning gender differences and size of the trade are discussed. The experimental data set was collected by Jochec during years 2009 to 2015, students were trading under standardized rules. In this paper the holding periods of profitable and unprofitable trades were tested and compared. Based on these calculations the general presence of the disposition effect in the data set was confirmed. Moreover there was confirmed that males and females have different tendency to succumb to this bias.
Mohammed Meri (Strasbourg University): Innopreneurs culture vs human capital investment in developed countries
In the era of new technologies and globalization, individual or organizational ideas are different. New ideas and new practical models are developed for socio-economic purposes. The vision of entrepreneurs is changing because the first thoughts are centered on the idea of the individual and his behavior which can only be revealed by him, But companies have the ability to concretize innovation. The term entrepreneurship has become a little old fashioned, it can now be seen as so many things; entrepreneurial style activities. It seems to cover a wide range of activities, people and organizations, this new style of behavior called: Innopreneur.
Stefanos Stasinopoulos (Nudge Unit Greece): Slogan phonetics: nudging brains to remember with ease
Conducting research on the main functionalities of the human memory has long been an exciting problem for behavioral scientists. We focus on the segmented phonological episodic coding of word signals. To this end, we design a tool that is able to generate easily memorable names, slogans and lines by exploiting the fundamentals of Psycholinguistics, Mental Lexicon and Memory mechanisms. Finally, by testing our software tool on real users, we collect data which confirm that names and slogans bearing memorable characteristics are significantly easier to be recalled.
Tomáš Jagelka (University of Bonn): Are economists’ preferences psychologists’ personality traits?
This paper establishes an empirical mapping between economic preferences and psychological personality traits. I use the Random Preference Model to estimate distributions of risk and time preferences complete with their individual-level stability and people’s propensity to make mistakes from unique experimental data. Using factor analysis to extract information on individuals’ ability and personality, I show that their link with preferences is much stronger than previously documented. I explain up to 50% of the variation in both average preferences and in individuals’ capacity to make consistent rational choices using four factors related to cognitive ability and three of the Big Five personality traits. Furthermore, the five structural parameters of my model largely dominate a wide range of demographic and socioeconomic variables when it comes to explaining observed individual choices between risky lotteries and time-separated payments.
Jie Chen (UNSW Sydney): Punishment or reward: an experiment with "privileged" players
This paper uses a laboratory experiment to investigate public goods contributions in groups that contain a “relatively privileged” player, and in which, additionally, each player may punish or reward other players. A privileged player is one who has higher incentives to contribute to the public good than other group members. Facing differential marginal returns, will the presence of a privileged player affect the efficacy of punishment or reward in privileged groups? The experiment shows that punishment are rendered ineffective in privileged groups while reward remain effective. The results can shed light on how to facilitate better cooperation and induce better outcomes in real-world groups facing differential returns.
Volker Seiler (Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University): On skewness and prudence
Skewness preferences are closely linked to downside risk aversion and prudence. However, using a sound experimental setup and controlling for the first four statistical moments and potentially distortionary effects of loss aversion a preference for skewness cannot be confirmed. In contrast to theoretical predictions, the preference for skewness does not increase with an increasing skewness of the considered lottery. Furthermore, the preference for left-skewed distributions is stronger for lotteries in the loss domain. However, more rational decision making increases the predisposition of right-skewed choices.
Call For Abstracts
The call for abstracts for #PCSB2020 is now open. The deadline is March 27th, 2020.
Topics
We accept talks covering any aspect of human decision making or methodology of its research.
We encourage you to submit your talk especially if your paper deals with one the following topic: Evolutionary Roots of Human Decision Making, Evidence-Based Policy (including Behavioral Public Policy), or Critique of Standard Behavioral Economics
Submission Process
- After you submit a short abstract of your article, we will inform you whether or not we consider your talk relevant to the main topic of the conference.
- Once your abstract is accepted, you need to register for the conference and cover the fee.
Note: The submission of a final paper is not mandatory.
Guidelines for Presenters
- the official language of the conference is English
- each submitted abstract should not exceed 100 words
- your presentation should be uploaded beforehand to the Google Drive folder (you will get the link before the conference) in PDF format
- length of one talk is 20 minutes and additional 10 minutes are reserved for a discussion (one presentation slot thus has 30 minutes)
Allais Memorial Prize in Behavioral Sciences
Maurice Allais was a French economist, the 1988 winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics for his pioneering contributions to the theory of markets and efficient utilization of resources. He was responsible for early work in Behavioral economics, which in the US is generally attributed to Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky. As such, he is perceived as one of the first pioneers of the field.
Prague Conference on Behavioral Sciences, with the kind permission of and in coperation with Fondation Maurice Allais (France), awards an annual Allais Memorial Prize in Behavioral Sciences. This prize is being awarded for a contribution to the field of behavioral science.
2020: Uri Gneezy (Israel)
Uri focuses on putting behavioral economics to work in the real world, where theory can meet application. He’s looking for basic research as well as more applied approaches to such topics as incentives-based interventions to increase good habits and decrease bad ones, Pay-What-You-Want pricing, and the detrimental effects of small and large incentives. In addition to the traditional laboratory and field studies, Uri is currently working with several firms, conducting experiments in which they’re using basic findings from behavioral economics to help companies achieve their traditional goals in non-traditional ways.
Before joining the Rady School, Gneezy was a faculty member at the University of Chicago, Technion and Haifa. Gneezy received his Ph.D. from the Center for Economic Research in Tilburg.
2019: Gerd Gigerenzer (Germany)
Gerd Gigerenzer is Director of the Harding Center for Risk Literacy at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin and partner of Simply Rational – The Institute for Decisions. He is former Director of the Center for Adaptive Behavior and Cognition (ABC) at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development and at the Max Planck Institute for Psychological Research in Munich, Professor of Psychology at the University of Chicago and John M. Olin Distinguished Visiting Professor, School of Law at the University of Virginia. In addition, he is Member of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences, the German Academy of Sciences and Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society. He was awarded honorary doctorates from the University of Basel and the Open University of the Netherlands, and is Batten Fellow at the Darden Business School, University of Virginia. Awards for his work include the AAAS Prize for the best article in the behavioral sciences, the Association of American Publishers Prize for the best book in the social and behavioral sciences, the German Psychology Award, and the Communicator Award of the German Research Foundation. His award-winning popular books Calculated Risks, Gut Feelings: The Intelligence of the Unconscious, and Risk Savvy: How to make good decisions have been translated into 21 languages. His academic books include Simple Heuristics That Make Us Smart, Rationality for Mortals, Simply Rational, and Bounded Rationality (with Reinhard Selten, a Nobel Laureate in economics). In Better Doctors, Better Patients, Better Decisions (with Sir Muir Gray) he shows how better informed doctors and patients can improve healthcare while reducing costs. Together with the Bank of England, he is working on the project “Simple heuristics for a safer world.” Gigerenzer has trained U.S. federal judges, German physicians, and top managers in decision making and understanding risks and uncertainties.
2018: Vernon L. Smith (United States)
Dr. Vernon L. Smith was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 2002 for his groundbreaking work in experimental economics. Dr. Smith has joint appointments with the Argyros School of Business & Economics and the Fowler School of Law, and he is part of a team that will create and run the new Economic Science Institute at Chapman.
Dr. Smith has authored or co-authored more than 300 articles and books on capital theory, finance, natural resource economics and experimental economics. He serves or has served on the board of editors of the American Economic Review, The Cato Journal, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, the Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Science, Economic Theory, Economic Design, Games and Economic Behavior, and the Journal of Economic Methodology. He is past president of the Public Choice Society, the Economic Science Association, the Western Economic Association and the Association for Private Enterprise Education. Previous faculty appointments include the University of Arizona, Purdue University, Brown University, the University of Massachusetts, and George Mason University, where he was a Professor of Economics and Law prior to joining the faculty at Chapman University. Dr. Smith has been a Ford Foundation Fellow, Fellow of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences and a Sherman Fairchild Distinguished Scholar at the California Institute of Technology.
In 1991, the Cambridge University Press published Dr. Smith’s Papers in Experimental Economics, and in 2000, a second collection of more recent papers, Bargaining and Market Behavior. Cambridge published his Rationality in Economics: Constructivist and Ecological Forms in January 2008. Dr. Smith has received an honorary Doctor of Management degree from Purdue University, and is a Fellow of the Econometric Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Dr. Smith is a distinguished fellow of the American Economic Association, an Andersen Consulting Professor of the Year, and the 1995 Adam Smith Award recipient conferred by the Association for Private Enterprise Education. He was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 1995, and received CalTech’s distinguished alumni award in 1996. He has served as a consultant on the privatization of electric power in Australia and New Zealand and participated in numerous private and public discussions of energy deregulation in the United States. In 1997 he served as a Blue Ribbon Panel Member, National Electric Reliability Council.
Dr. Smith completed his undergraduate degree in electrical engineering at the California Institute of Technology, his master’s degree in economics at the University of Kansas, and his Ph.D. in economics at Harvard University.
2017: Bart J. Wilson (United States)
Dr. Bart Wilson has joint appointments with the Argyros School of Business and Economics and the Fowler School of Law. His broad fields of specialty are industrial organization and experimental economics. He is currently pursuing research on the foundations of exchange and specialization and the origins of property right systems in laboratory economies. His other research programs apply the experimental method to topics in gasoline markets, e-commerce, electric power deregulation, and antitrust. Dr. Wilson is part of a team, lead by Nobel Laureate Vernon Smith, that will create and run the new Economic Science Institute at Chapman.
Preliminary Program
Friday (3.4.2020) | Saturday (4.4.2020) | |
| Program Starts | 5 pm – Registration | 9 am – Morning Sessions |
| 5:45 pm – Opening 6:15 pm – Award Ceremony 6:30 pm – Keynote Lecture | 11:30 am – Lunch 12:30 pm – Plenary Session 1:30 pm – Afternoon Sessions 6:00 pm – Plenary Session | |
| Program Ends | 7:30 pm – Reception | 7:00 pm – Reception |
Conference Fees
Presenter | Participant | Visitor | |
| Regular | €250 | €150 | — |
| Students | €200 | €125 | €30 |
| Includes | Paper Presentation, Conference Sessions, Coffee Breaks, All Meals | Poster Presentation, Conference Sessions, Coffee Breaks, All Meals | Conference Sessions |
Deadlines
For reduced fees to be applied, the payment must be done before the date relevant to the fee.
The final deadline for all payments is March 27, 2020 (i.e. if we do not register your payment by this date, your registration is considered as incomplete).
The final deadline for submissions is March 27, 2020.
Payment details
We will provide you with payment details after your registration is confirmed.
Refund Policy
All fees are eligible for a refund within 5 working days after the date of payment with a deduction of 20%. After this period,
- payments made prior to January 15, 2020 are not eligible for a refund
- payments made after January 15, 2020 are eligible for a refund with a deduction of 50%
- registrations canceled less than 31 days before the event are not eligible for a refund
Archive
#PCBS2019 took place in Prague on 5 and 6 may 2019. The keynote speaker and laureate of the Allais Memorial Prize in Behavioral Sciences was professor Gerd Gigerenzer from Max Planck Institute for Human Development. Among other speakers were, for example, Kristina Londakova from The Behavioural Insights Team or Alejandro Hortal from University of North Carolina Greensboro.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you send me an original invitation letter in order to get a visa?
We can send you the letter after we receive your payment. If your visa application will be rejected, we will send you your money back.
What about an invoice?
During the event, you will get a payment confirmation/receipt. If you want us to send you an invoice, please let us know and provide us with the following information:
- official name of the institution
- address of the institution (street, ZIP, city, country)
- tax / identification number
Where is the venue?
The venue is located in the Prague city center. The address is Jungmannova 28/17, Prague (map).
Is it difficult to reach the venue in the Prague city center?
No. The venue of the Summer school is located in the Prague city center, near 2 metro lines and several tram lines. A few weeks before the start of the event, we will send you an email with a detail description of the easiest way to get here from Vaclav Havel Airport Prague / Prague Main Railway Station / Prague Central Bus Station Florenc.
In which area of Prague should I find an accommodation?
The venue is in Jungmannova street near to Můstek metro station where metro line A and B crosses. For your convenience, book a housing near to mentioned lines.
Deadlines
31.08.2019 | Super Early-bird Fee
31.12.2019 | Early-bird Fee
27.03.2020 | Abstract Submission, Regular Fee
We are GREEN
In order to offset the CO2 footprint of this event, we plant one tree for each attendee.
