Research Scientist

Office: D 507
Tel.: +49 7531 88-2972
Fax: +49 7531 88-5288
h.neth@uni-konstanz.de

Research interests

  • adaptive behavior under risk vs. uncertainty
  • ecological rationality, rational task analysis
  • risk perception, communication and management
  • interactive problem solving, embodied and embedded cognition

Professional experience

2014–present Research scientist in Social Psychology and Decision Sciences,
Department of Psychology, University of Konstanz, Germany
2013–2014 Acting chair of General Psychology: Cognition, Emotion, Communication (previously Prof. Hans Spada),
Department of Psychology, Albert-Ludwigs-University of Freiburg, Germany
2011–2013 Researcher, Cognitive and Decision Sciences (Prof. Michael R. Waldmann),
Georg-Elias-Müller Institute for Psychology, Georg-August-University, Göttingen, Germany
2008–present Researcher, Adaptive Behavior and Cognition (ABC, Prof. Gerd Gigerenzer),
Max Planck Institute for Human Development (MPIB), Berlin, Germany
2007–2008 Research assistant professor, Cognitive Science Department (Prof. Wayne D. Gray),
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), Troy, NY, USA
2003–2007 Post-doctoral researcher, Cognitive Science Department (Prof. Wayne D. Gray),
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), Troy, NY, USA

Education

2000–2003 Ph.D. in Psychology (Prof. Stephen J. Payne),
School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff, Wales, UK
1998–1999 Graduate student research collaborator (Prof. Phil N. Johnson-Laird),
Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA
1998 Diplom (M.Sc. equiv.) in Psychology (Prof. Hans Spada),
Department of Psychology, Albert-Ludwigs-University of Freiburg, Germany
1992–1998 Studies in Psychology, Philosophy, and Linguistics,
Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany

Publications

Giese, H., Neth, H., Gaissmaier, W. (2021). Determinants of information diffusion in online communication on vaccination: The benefits of visual displays. Vaccine. Elsevier. 39 (43), 6407-6413. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2021.09.016

Neth, H., Gradwohl, N., Streeb, D., Keim, D.A., & Gaissmaier, W. (2021).  Perspectives on the 2x2 matrix: Solving semantically distinct problems based on a shared structure of binary contingencies.  Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 567817.  doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.567817

Neth, H. (2020).  Data Science for Psychologists.  Social Psychology and Decision Sciences, University of Konstanz, Germany.  Textbook and R package ds4psy (version 0.2.1, May 6, 2020).  eBook available at https://bookdown.org/hneth/ds4psy/;  R package at https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=ds4psy

Giese, H., Neth, H., Moussaïd, M., Betsch, C., & Gaissmaier, W. (2019).  The echo in flu-vaccination echo chambers: Selective attention trumps social influence.  Vaccine.  [Available online 18 December 2019]  doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2019.11.03

Neth H, Gradwohl N (2019).  unikn: Graphical elements of the University of Konstanz's corporate design.  Social Psychology and Decision Sciences, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany. R package (version 0.2.0, September 25, 2019), https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=unikn.

Neth, H., Gaisbauer, F., Gradwohl, N., & Gaissmaier, W. (2018).  riskyr: A toolbox for rendering risk literacy more transparent.  Social Psychology and Decision Sciences, University of Konstanz, Germany. Computer software (R package version 0.2.0, Dec. 20, 2018).  Retrieved from https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=riskyr.

​Phillips, N. D., Neth, H., Woike, J. K. & Gaissmaier, W. (2017).  FFTrees: A toolbox to create, visualize, and evaluate fast-and-frugal decision trees.  Judgment and Decision Making, 12 (4), 344–368.

Mousavi, S., Meder, B., Neth, H., & Kheirandish, R. (2017).  Heuristics:  Fast, frugal, and smart.  In Morris Altman (Ed.), Handbook of behavioral economics and smart decision-making: Rational decision-making within the bounds of reason (pp. 101–118).  Cheltenham, UK:  Edward Elgar Publishing.

Veksler, B. Z., Boyd, R., Myers, C. W., Gunzelmann, G., Neth, H., & Gray, W. D. (2017).  Visual working memory resources are best characterized as dynamic, quantifiable mnemonic traces.  Topics in Cognitive Science, 9, 83–101.  doi: 10.1111/tops.12248

Neth, H., & Gaissmaier, W. (2017).  Warum erfolgreiche Prognosen einfach und unsicher sind.  Von der Wahl des richtigen Werkzeugs für Wähler und die Wahlforschung.  Zeitschrift für Politikwissenschaft, 27 (2), 205–220.  doi: 10.1007/s41358-017-0100-5

Gaissmaier, W., & Neth, H. (2016).  Die Intelligenz einfacher Entscheidungsregeln in einer ungewissen Welt.  Controller Magazin, 41(2), 19–26.

Neth, H., Sims, C. R., & Gray, W. D. (2016).  Rational task analysis: A methodology to benchmark bounded rationality.  Minds and Machines, 26 (1–2), 125–148.  doi: 10.1007/s11023-015-9368-8

Neth, H., & Gigerenzer, G. (2015).  Heuristics: Tools for an uncertain world.  In R. Scott & S. Kosslyn (Eds.), Emerging trends in the social and behavioral sciences: An interdisciplinary, searchable, and linkable resource (pp. 1–18).  New York, NY: Wiley Online Library.  doi: 10.1002/9781118900772.etrds0394

Neth, H., Engelmann, N., & Mayrhofer, R. (2014).  Foraging for alternatives: Ecological rationality in keeping options viable.  In P. Bello, M. Guarini, M. McShane, & B. Scassellati (Eds.),  Proceedings of the 34th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 1078–1083).  Austin, TX: Cognitive Science Society.

Neth, H., Meder, B., Kothiyal, A. & Gigerenzer, G. (2014). Homo heuristicus in the financial world: From risk management to managing uncertainty. Journal of Risk Management in Financial Institutions, 7(2), 134–144. 

Neth, H. (2014). Warum Controller auf Heuristiken setzen sollten. Controlling & Management Review, 58(3), 22–28. 

Neth, H. (2014).  Wenn weniger mehr ist: Das Potenzial einfacher Heuristiken in Controlling und Management Reporting.  In A. Klein & J. Gräf (Eds.), Reporting und Business Intelligence (2nd ed., pp. 43–57).  Freiburg: Haufe Verlag. 

Morais, A. S., Neth, H., & Hills, T. T. (2013).  How healthy aging and dementia impact memory search.  In M. Knauff, M. Pauen, N. Sebanz, & I. Wachsmuth (Eds.), Cooperative minds: Social interaction and group dynamics. Proceedings of the 35th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 3104–3109).  Austin, TX: Cognitive Science Society.

Neth, H., Czienskowski, U., Schooler, L. J., & Gluck, K. (2013).  Making robust classification decisions: Constructing and evaluating Fast and Frugal Trees (FFTs).  In M. Knauff, M. Pauen, N. Sebanz, & I. Wachsmuth (Eds.),  Proceedings of the 35th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 43–44). Austin, TX: Cognitive Science Society.

Sims, C. R., Neth, H., Jacobs, R. A., & Gray, W. D. (2013).  Melioration as rational choice: Sequential decision making in uncertain environments.  Psychological Review, 120, 139–154.