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Dr Stephan Dickert

Stephan

Co-Director of Research Group MINDS and Reader in Marketing.

Email: s.dickert@qmul.ac.uk
Room Number: Room 4.25.E, Francis Bancroft Building, Mile End Campus
Office Hours: by appointment

Profile

Roles:

Biography:

Dr Stephan Dickert (PhD, MSc, BA, FHEA) is a Reader (Associate Professor) in Marketing at Queen Mary University of London, School of Business and Management.

Stephan’s past academic positions include a Chaired Professorship of Cognitive Psychology at the University of Klagenfurt (Austria), an Assistant Professorship in Marketing at the WU Vienna University of Economics and Business (Austria) and a Senior Research Fellowship at the Max-Planck-Institute for Research on Collective Goods, Bonn (Germany). He holds a PhD and MSc in Psychology from the University of Oregon (USA), as well as a BA in Psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles (USA).

Stephan’s main research interests lie in the area of judgment and decision making, risk perception, and economic psychology. This includes research on the affective and cognitive mechanisms underlying prosocial behaviour (and charitable giving in particular), ownership and risk perception in consumption situations, and environmental decision making. His research projects address societal challenges that are of interest to various disciplines (including marketing, psychology, economics, and public policy). He has published in high-quality journals, including Journal of Behavioral Decision Making; Journal of Environmental Management; Journal of Experimental Social Psychology; Judgment and Decision Making; Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes; Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America; Psychological Science; Technological Forecasting & Social Change, among others.

Teaching

Postgraduate:

  • BUSM058: Understanding Consumer Behavior
  • BUSM183: Services Management

Stephan is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Research

Research Interests:

  • Judgment and Decision Making
  • Risk Perception
  • Emotions
  • Prosocial Behaviour
  • Economic Psychology

Publications

Journal articles

  • Erlandsson, A. & Dickert, S. (2024). A typology of psychological mechanisms underlying prosocial decisions. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly.
  • Rubaltelli, E., Dickert, S., Markowitz, D., & Slovic, P. (2024). Political ideology shapes risk and benefit judgments of COVID-19 vaccines. Risk Analysis 44, 126-140.
  • Tommasi, F., Ceschi, A., Sartori, R., Trifiletti, E., Vignoli, M. and Dickert, S. (2024), "Discriminations in remote work contexts: the pivotal role of diversity and equality management", International Journal of Workplace Health Management, 17, 301-318.
  • Tommasi, F., Sartori R., Ceschi, A. & Dickert S. (2024). What makes a workday meaningful? Evidence on the role of task significance, competence and subjective meaningful work. Evidence-based HRM: a global forum for empirical scholarship.
  • Erlandsson, A., Dickert., S., Moche, H., Västfjäll, D., & Chapman, C. (2023). Beneficiary effects in prosocial decision making: Understanding unequal valuations of lives. European Review of Social Psychology, 35, 293-340.
  • Priolo, G., Vacondio, M., Dickert, S., & Bonini, N. (2023). The influence of COVID-19 mortality rate formats on emotional reactions, risk perception, and self-protective behavioral intentions. Journal of Risk Research, 26, 1174-1190.
  • Moche, H., Erlandsson, A., Dickert, S., & Västfjäll, D. (2023) The potential and pitfalls of unit asking in reducing scope-insensitivity. Judgement and Decision Making 18, E28.
  • Fruchter, G., Reutterer, T., Dickert, S., & Vacondio, M. (2023). Dynamic Formation of Quality Expectations: Theory and Empirical Evidence. Review of Marketing Science, 21, 35-75.
  • Pittarello, A., Motsenok, M., Dickert, S., & Ritov, I. (2023). When the poor give more than the rich: The role of resource evaluability on relative giving. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 36, e2293.
  • Ramos. J., Grant, M.D., Flores, A., Dickert, S., Eom, K., Jiga-Boy, G.M., Kogut, T., Mayorga, M., Pedersen, E., Pereira, B., Rubaltelli, E., Sherman, D.K., Slovic, P., Västfjäll, D., Van Boven, L. (2022). Structured Analysis of Personal Criteria Increases Intentions to Minimize Others’ Health Risks During the COVID-19 Pandemic. PNAS Nexus, 1, pgac218.
  • Flores, A., Cole, J., Dickert, S., Eom, K., Jiga-Boy, G., Kogut, T., Lori, R., Mayorga, M., Pedersen, E., Pereira, B., Rubaltelli, E., Sherman, D., Slovic, P., Västfjäll, D., & Van Boven, L. (2022). Politicians Polarize and Experts Depolarize Public Support for COVID-19 Management Policies Across Countries. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 119, e2117543119.
  • Hagman, W., Tinghög, G., Dickert, S., Slovic, P., & Västfjäll, D. (2022). Motivated down-regulation of emotion and compassion collapse revisited. Frontiers in Psychology. 13:801150.
  • Khalid, A.S., & Dickert, S. (2022). Empathy at the Gates: Reassessing its Role in Moral Decision Making. Frontiers in Psychology. 13:800752.
  • Manika, D., Dickert, S., & Golden, L.L. (2021). Check (it) yourself before you wreck yourself: The benefits of online health information exposure on risk perception and intentions to protect oneself. Technological Forecasting & Social Change, 173, 121098.
  • Ceschi, A., Sartori, R., Dickert, S., Scalco, A. Tur., E, Tommasi, F., & Delfini, K.  (2021). Testing a norm-based policy for waste management: An agent-based modeling simulation on nudging recycling behavior. Journal of Environmental Management, 294, 112938.
  • Bjälkebring, P., Henning, G., Västfjäll, D., Dickert, S., Bremer, Y., Buratti, S., Hansson, I., & Johansson, B. (2021). Helping out or helping yourself? Volunteering and life satisfaction across the retirement transition.  Psychology & Aging, 36, 119–130.
  • Costantini, A., Dickert, S., Ceschi, A, Sartori, R. (2021). Return to work after maternity leave: The role of support policies on work attitudes of women in management positions. Gender in Management: An International Journal, 36, 108-130.
  • Vacondio, M., Priolo, G., Dickert, S., & Bonini, N. (2021). Worry, Perceived Threat and Media Communication as Predictors of Self-Protective Behaviors During the COVID-19 Outbreak in Europe. Frontiers in Psychology. 12:577992.
  • Thürridl, C., Kamleitner, B., Ruzeviciute, R., Süssenbach, S., & Dickert, S. (2020). From Happy Consumption to Possessive Bonds: When Positive Affect Increases Psychological Ownership for Brands. Journal of Business Research, 107, 89-103.
  • Erlandsson, A., Lindkvist, A., Lundkvist, K., Andersson, P., Dickert, S., Slovic, P., & Västfjäll, D. (2020). Moral preferences in helping dilemmas expressed by matching and forced choice. Judgment and Decision Making, 14, 452-475.
  • Rubaltelli, R., Hysenbelli, D., Dickert, S., Mayorga, M. & Slovic, P. (2020). Asymmetric cost and benefit perceptions in willingness-to-donate decisions. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 33, 304-322.
  • Hagman, W., Erlandsson, A., Dickert, S., Tinghög, G. & Västfjäll, D. (2019). The effect of paternalistic alternatives on attitudes toward default nudges. Behavioral Public Policy, 1-24.
  • Hermstrüwer, Y., & Dickert, S. (2017). Sharing is daring: An experiment on consent options, chilling effects and a salient privacy nudge. International Review of Law and Economics, 51, 38-49.
  • Ceschi, A., Costantini, A., Dickert, S., & Sartori, R. (2017). The impact of occupational rewards on risk taking among managers. Journal of Personnel Psychology, 16, 104-111. 
  • Ceschi, A., Sartori, R., Dickert, S., & Costantini, A. (2016). Grit or Honesty-Humility? New insights into the moderating role of personality between the health impairment process and counterproductive work behavior. Frontiers in Psychology. 7:1799.
  • Ashby, N., Jekel, M., Dickert, S., Glöckner, A. (2016). Finding the right fit: A comparison of cognitive process assumptions underlying popular drift-diffusion models. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 42, 1982-1993
  • Dickert, S., Kleber, J., Västfjäll, D., & Slovic, P. (2016). Mental imagery, impact, and affect: A mediation model for charitable giving. Plos ONE, 11:e0148274.
  • Bjälkebring, P., Västfjäll, D., Dickert, S., & Slovic, P. (2016). Greater emotional gain from giving in older adults: Age-related positivity bias in charitable giving. Frontiers in Psychology, 7:846.
  • Dickert, S., Västfjäll, D., Kleber, J., & Slovic, P. (2015). Scope Insensitivity: The Limits of Intuitive Valuation of Human Lives in Public Policy. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, 4, 248-255.
  • Kamleitner, B., & Dickert, S. (2015). The two faces of ownership: Introduction to the special section on ownership and economic decisions. Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, 58, 159-161.
  • Kleber, J., Dickert, S., Peters, E., & Florack, A. (2013). Same numbers, different meanings: How numeracy influences the importance of numbers for pro-social behavior. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 49, 699-705.
  • Kleber, J., Dickert, S., & Betsch, T. (2013). The impact of attention focus on the endowment effect. Swiss Journal of Psychology, 72, 159-164.
  • Fiedler, S., Glöckner, A., Nicklisch, A., & Dickert, S. (2013). Social Value Orientation and information search in social dilemmas: An eye-tracking analysis. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 120, 272-284.
  • Dickert, S., Herbig, B., Glöckner, A., Gansen, C., & Portack, R. (2012). The more the better? Effects of training and information amount in legal judgments. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 26, 223-233.
  • Dickert, S., Västfjäll, D., Kleber, J., & Slovic, P. (2012). Valuations of human lives: Normative expectations and psychological mechanisms of (ir)rationality. Synthese, 189, 95-105.
  • Rubaltelli, E., Dickert, S., & Slovic, P. (2012). Response mode, compatibility, and dual processes in the evaluation of simple gambles: An eye-tracking investigation. Judgment and Decision Making, 7, 427-440.
  • Ashby, N., Dickert, S., & Glöckner, A. (2012). Focusing on what you own: Biased information uptake due to ownership. Judgment and Decision Making, 7, 254-267.
  • Dickert, S., Kleber, J., Peters, E. & Slovic, P. (2011). Numeracy as a precursor to pro-social behavior: The impact of numeracy and presentation format on the cognitive mechanisms underlying donation decisions. Judgment and Decision Making, 6, 638-650.
  • Dickert, S., Sagara, N., & Slovic, P. (2011). Affective motivations to help others: A two-stage model of donation decisions. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 24, 361-376.
  • Dickert, S., & Slovic, P. (2011). Unstable values in lifesaving decisions. Frontiers in Psychology, 2: 294.
  • Ashby, N., Glöckner, A., & Dickert, S.  (2011). Conscious and unconscious thought in risky choice: The role of capacity and differentiated knowledge. Frontiers in Psychology, 2: 261.
  • Yau, J., Joy, M. & Dickert, S. (2010). A mobile context-aware framework for managing learning schedules - data analysis from a diary study. Journal of Educational Technology & Society, 13, 22-32.
  • Dickert, S., & Slovic, P. (2009). Attentional mechanisms in the generation of sympathy. Judgment and Decision Making, 4, 297-306.
  • Peters, E., Västfjäll, D., Slovic, P., Mertz, C.K., Mazzocco, K., & Dickert, S. (2006).  Numeracy and decision making.  Psychological Science, 17, 408-414.

Book chapters and edited volumes

  • Ceschi, A., Costantini, A., Malavasi, G., Dickert, S., Sartori, R., (2020). A “GRRR” goal orientation process-model: Workplace long-term relationships among GRit, Resilience and Recovery. In L.E. van Zyl, C. Olckers, & L. van der Vaart (Eds), Multidisciplinary perspectives on grit: contemporary theories, assessments, applications and critiques. (pp.). Cham: Springer. 
  • Vacondio M., & Dickert S. (2020). Risk. In: Glăveanu V. (Eds.), The Palgrave Encyclopedia of the Possible. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. 
  • Dickert, S., Ashby, N., & Dickert, A. (2018). Trading under the influence: The effects of psychological ownership on economic decision making. In J.Peck & S.B.Shu (Eds.), Psychological Ownership and Consumer Behavior. (pp.145-163). Cham: Springer. 
  • Costantini, A., Dickert, S., Ceschi, A., & Sartori R. (2018). Psychological processes underlying organizational reward management. In S. J. Perkins (Ed.), The Routledge Companion to Reward Management. Abingdon: Routledge.
  • Schaat, S., Wander, J., Dickert, S., Miladinovic, A. (2017). Psychologically Plausible Models in Agent-based Simulations of Sustainable Behavior. In A. Alonso-Betanzos et al. (Eds.). Agent-Based Modeling of Sustainable Behaviors (Understanding Complex Systems). (pp. 1-25). Cham: Springer.
  • Scalco, A., Ceschi, A., Shiboub, I., Sartori, R., Frayret, J.-M., Dickert, S. (2017). The Implementation of the Theory of Planned Behavior in an Agent-Based Model for Recycling: A Review and a Proposal. In A. Alonso-Betanzos et al. (Eds.). Agent-Based Modeling of Sustainable Behaviors (Understanding Complex Systems). (pp. 77-97).  Cham: Springer.
  • Dickert, S., Västfjäll, D., Mauro, R. & Slovic, P. (2015). The Feeling of Risk: Implications for risk perception and communication. In H. Cho, T. Reimer, & K. A. T. McComas (Eds.), The SAGE Handbook of Risk Communication (pp. 41-54). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
  • Dickert, S., Västfjäll, D., & Slovic, P. (2015). Neural economics and dual information processing underlying charitable giving. In V. Reyna & E. Wilhelms (Eds.), Neuroeconomics, Judgment, and Decision Making (pp. 181-199). London: Psychology Press.
  • Dickert, S. (2010). Measuring affect and emotions in decision making: The affective side of intuitive information processing. In A. Glöckner & C.L. Witteman (Eds.), Tracing intuition: Recent methods in measuring intuitive and deliberative processes in decision making (pp. 179-198). London: Psychology Press.
  • Dickert, S., Sagara, N., & Slovic, P. (2010). Affective motivations to help others: A two-stage model of donation decisions. In D.M. Oppenheimer & C.Y. Olivola (Eds.), Experimental approaches to the study of charitable giving (pp.161-178). New York: Taylor and Francis.
  • Dickert, S., & Slovic, P. (2010). Attentional mechanisms in the generation of sympathy. In P. Slovic (Ed.), The Feeling of Risk: New Perspectives on Risk Perception (pp. 37-50). London: Earthscan.

Conference papers

  • Schaat, S., Miladinović, A., Wilker, S., Kollmann, S., Dickert, S., Geveze, E., Gruber. V. (2015). Emotion in Consumer Simulations for the Development and Testing of Recommendations for Marketing Strategies. Proceedings of the 3rd Workshop on Emotions and Personality in Personalized Systems, Vienna, pp. 25-32.
  • Schaat, S., Dickert, S., Geveze, E., Miladinovic, A., Wilker, S, & Gruber, V. (2015). Socio-Cognitive Agents for the Simulation of Environmental-Friendly Consumer Decisions. International Conference on Affective Computing and Intelligent Interaction, Xian, pp. 851-856.
  • Ceschi, A., Dorofeeva, K., Sartori, R., Dickert, S., & Scalco, A. (2015).  A Simulation of Householders’ Recycling Attitudes Based on the Theory of Planned Behavior. Trends in Practical Applications of Agents, Multi-Agent Systems and Sustainability: Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, Vol. 372, 177-184.
  • Ceschi, A., Scalco, A., Dickert, S., & Sartori, R. (2015).  Compassion and Prosocial Behavior. Is it Possible to Simulate them Virtually? Trends in Practical Applications of Agents, Multi-Agent Systems and Sustainability: Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, Vol. 372, 207-214.
  • Dickert, S., Kleber, J & Västfjäll, D. (June, 2013). Explaining the processes behind identifiability and magnitude effects on charitable giving. European Marketing Academy Conference, Istanbul, Turkey.

Supervision

Areas of Supervision Expertise:

Dr Dickert welcomes enquiries from prospective doctoral students with an interest in:

  • Judgment and Decision Making
  • Risk Perception
  • Charitable Giving
  • Economic Psychology
  • Consumer Behaviour

Public Engagement

Stephan is an academic editor for PLOS ONE and serves on the editorial review boards for the Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, Frontiers is Psychology, and Journal of Consumer Marketing. He also regularly serves as a reviewer for other academic outlets and grant funding agencies (e.g., National Science Foundation, USA; Israel Science Foundation).

Stephan has presented his research at international conferences (e.g., Academy of Marketing Science; Society of Judgment and Decision Making; Subjective Probability, Utility, and Decision Making), organized several workshops (e.g., on Charitable Giving and Ownership) and has been invited as a keynote speaker at academic (e.g., Austrian Psychology Society Conference; Cause Related Marketing Workshop – University of Groningen; Social Marketing Club – University of Amsterdam) as well as non-academic (Fundraising Austria) events. His research has been covered by international media (e.g., Austrian Press Agency; German Radio RBB) and received several awards.

Stephan has held Visiting Professorships at the University of Padova (Italy) and the University of Verona (Italy), has worked with international charity organisations (e.g., UNHCR, Worldvision, DonorVoice), and is a founding member of the Compassion Week workshop in Eugene, Oregon.

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