Daniel A. DeCaro

Ph.D. Candidate, Social Cognition

Miami University

Research Interests

My research integrates the Social, Decision, and Organization Sciences (SDOS) to study individual-level motivation and judgment/decision-making processes within organizational contexts. My research with Dr. Joseph Johnson in the Computational Cognition Lab at Miami University has been driven by two fundamental questions about "motivated decision-making."

• How are individual decision-task motivation and performance (information processing, decision-strategy) shaped by administrative social policy (broadly defined)?

• What fundamental motives direct and energize decision-making processes?

Working within the framework of self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985, 2000), I have investigated each of these questions in terms of the role of the fundamental human motive of autonomy (freedom of choice).

Areas of Application

Ultimately, this research will address administrative policy more generally (e.g.., classroom context, legal context, business, community), as well as public policy. To date, I have applied this research at the micro (laboratory) and meso (community) levels, conducting mutually informative laboratory and field studies.

• Behavioral economics. I continue to investigate the value (utility) individuals place on fundamental psychological needs, such as the need for autonomy (freedom of choice), and the consequences this has for preferential choice and risk-taking.

• Procedural Justice. My work in behavioral economics has grown to investigate the link between the satiation of fundamental psychological needs (procedural utilities) and perceptions of procedural justice in organizational settings.

• Sustainable development & the conservation of dwindling natural resources. I am fortunate to collaborate with Dr. Michael Stokes (Western Kentucky University) and Dr. Kimwele Nguli (University of Nairobi) to investigate, from a motivational perspective, the role of participatory democracy (stakeholder inclusion in management) in the conservation of dwindling natural resources and in sustainable development.