Psychology 2553r: Decision Making and Negotiation Research Seminar

Harvard undergraduates interested in research related to behavioral decision making and negotiation may be good candidates for my laboratory course - Psychology 2553r: Decision Making and Negotiation Research Seminar. This seminar is offered each spring and fall, and there are no prerequisites for the class besides enthusiasm. Students enrolled in Psych 2553r will work closely with one of the members of my lab group (see bios below) on one or more research projects. Students in this course are expected to put in about 10 hours of work per week.

Signing Up

If you are interested in signing up for Psychology 2553r, you should e-mail me or one or more of the members of my lab group (see below) whose research sounds interesting to you. We will be happy to tell you more about opportunities to work with us for Psychology 2553r credit.

Lab Members

Lakshmi Balachandra Graduate Research Fellow at Program on Negotiation, Harvard Law School & 5th year Ph.D. student at Boston College lakb@mit.edu	Lakshmi’s research investigates on how individuals decide to trust others, in particular in decision-making and negotiation situations.  My current projects are in the context of early-stage investors (venture capitalists and angel investors) where I’m trying to identify the cues/behaviors they observe during an entrepreneur’s presentation that lead to perceptions of trustworthiness and interest in investing.  I use videos of entrepreneurs presenting their business ideas to potential investors to understand which relational and social cues effectively increase investors’ interest in investing rather than considering only the economic factors, which have been the dominant model in investment decision-making theory.
Sreedhari D. Desai Research Fellow, Women & Public Policy Program, Harvard Kennedy School of Government & Post Doctoral Research Fellow Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics sreedharidesai@gmail.com	My research investigates how individuals behave in organizations, with a focus on ethical decision making, fairness and negotiation. For example, in one of my projects, I examine if displaying cues such as moral quotations at the bottom of emails, pictures of ethical leaders in one's cubicle, or religious accessories on one's person can trigger implicit psychological processes in superiors' minds such that, without realizing it, they feel discouraged from asking their subordinates to engage in unethical acts. As a research assistant, you will be presented with opportunities to participate in the design of studies, conduct experiments, and analyze data. For more information on my ongoing research projects, please visit my webpage.
Lisa Shu 1st year Ph.D. student in Organizational Behavior at Harvard Business School & Psychology at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences lshu@fas.harvard.edu	For more information on my research please visit my website.
Chia-Jung Tsay 1st year Ph.D. student in Organizational Behavior ctsay@hbs.edu	My research focuses on modes of thought---unconscious and conscious---and how they affect decision making (such as through preference reversals), looking more specifically at differences in quality of choice and post-choice satisfaction. I am also interested in exploring how unconscious thought may steer individuals towards more affectively-influenced "want" choices, despite experiencing a want/should conflict. For more information on my research please visit my website: Personal Website
Ting Zhang 1st year Ph.D. student in Organizational Behavior (micro track) tzhang@hbs.edu	I am currently interested in research related to ethical decision making and cooperation, particularly under times of uncertainty.  My projects involve two main components: investigating the mechanisms that motivate unethical behavior and exploring factors that curb such motivations and encourage more ethical decisions.