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Michel Regenwetter

Professor

Research Interests

  • Decision Making
  • Mathematical Psychology
  • Behavioral Social Choice
  • Behavioral Economics

Research Description

Individual preferences fluctuate over time and differ among people. Few models of utility and decision making attempt to capture this fundamental fact explicitly. Prof. Regenwetter's primary goal is to model, measure, and predict preference and choice behavior when it is allowed to vary. Random utility models are designed as a modeling language to capture and quantify the ubiquitous variability in choice and preference behavior. Prof. Regenwetter's primary interests can be categorized as falling within three paradigms: probabilistic measurement, social choice, and preference evolution over time. Probabilistic measurement theory reformulates axiomatic measurement structures (e.g., in decision theory) in a probabilistic framework and thereby makes them empirically (and statistically) testable. Social choice theory is the theory of aggregating individual preferences or choices into a social ordering or choice. Dr. Regenwetter's interest in social choice is behavioral. Using random utility models as measurement tools, he evaluates and compares competing social choice functions on empirical data of various kinds. Dr. Regenwetter studies preference change over time via stochastic process models in which random utilities are indexed by continuous time.

Education

Ph.D. Mathematical Behavioral Sciences, University of California at Irvine

Awards and Honors

  • 1999 Young Investigator Award, Society for Mathematical Psychology
  • 2006 Fellow, Association for Psychological Science
  • 2012 International Exeter Prize for Research in Experimental Economics, Decision Theory and Behavioral Economics, for Regenwetter, M., Dana, J. & Davis-Stober, C. (2011). “Transitivity of preferences.” Psychological Review, 118, 42-56.

Courses Taught

Models of Decision and Choice
Testing Theories of Decision
Foundations of Behavioral Social Choice Research
Introduction to Statistics
Psychological Statistics

Additional Campus Affiliations

Professor, Psychology
Professor, Political Science
Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Affiliate, Center for Social & Behavioral Science

Honors & Awards

Fellow, Association for Psychological Science

Fellow Psychonomic Society

Co-recipient of the 2012 Exeter Prize for Research in Experimental Economics, Decision Theory and Behavioral Economics,

Young Investigator Award, Society for Mathematical Psychology

 

Highlighted Publications

Regenwetter, M., Dana, J., & Davis-Stober, C. P. (2011). Transitivity of Preferences. Psychological review, 118(1), 42-56. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0021150

Regenwetter, M., & Davis-Stober, C. P. (2012). Behavioral variability of choices versus structural inconsistency of preferences. Psychological review, 119(2), 408-416. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0027372

Regenwetter, M., & Robinson, M. M. (2017). The construct-behavior gap in behavioral decision research: A challenge beyond replicability. Psychological review, 124(5), 533-550. https://doi.org/10.1037/rev0000067

Davis-Stober, C. P., & Regenwetter, M. (2019). The ‘Paradox’ of Converging Evidence. Psychological review, 126(6), 865-879. https://doi.org/10.1037/rev0000156

Zwilling, C. E., Cavagnaro, D. R., Regenwetter, M., Lim, S. H., Fields, B., & Zhang, Y. (2019). QTEST 2.1: Quantitative testing of theories of binary choice using Bayesian inference. Journal of Mathematical Psychology, 91, 176-194. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmp.2019.05.002

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Recent Publications

Bogdan, P. C., Cervantes, V. H., & Regenwetter, M. (2024). What does a population-level mediation reveal about individual people? Behavior Research Methods, 56(6), 5667-5692. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-023-02298-9

Colonius, H., Regenwetter, M., & Swait, J. (2024). Editorial: A celebration of A. A. J. Marley. Journal of Mathematical Psychology, 122, Article 102871. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmp.2024.102871

Roberts, F. S., Davis-Stober, C. P., & Regenwetter, M. (2024). The mathematical psychology of Peter Fishburn. Journal of Mathematical Psychology, 120-121, Article 102845. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmp.2024.102845

Cavagnaro, D. R., & Regenwetter, M. (2023). Probabilistic Choice Induced by Strength of Preference. Computational Brain and Behavior, 6(4), 569-600. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42113-023-00176-3

Ludwig, J., Cavagnaro, D. R., & Regenwetter, M. (2023). Order-constrained inference to supplement experimental data analytics in behavioral economics: A motivational case study. Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics , 107, Article 102116. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socec.2023.102116

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