George Loewenstein

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George Loewenstein
Born	George Loewenstein
Education	Yale University, Brandeis University
Occupation	Economist, Behavioral Economics, Psychologist
Known for	Intertemporal Choice

George Loewenstein is the Herbert A. Simon Professor of Economics and Psychology in the Social and Decision Sciences Department at Carnegie Mellon University.

He received his B.A. in economics magna cum laude from Brandeis University in 1977 and Ph.D. in economics from Yale University in 1985.

He is a leading specialist in the field of behavioural economics and neuroeconomics.

In particular, he is known for his work regarding intertemporal choice and affective forecasting.

Loewenstein is the descendant of Sigmund Freud.

Loewenstein became a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2008.

[edit] Hot-Cold Empathy Gaps

One of Loewenstein's major contributions to behavioral economics has been the idea of hot-cold empathy gaps. The crux of this idea is that understanding is 'state dependent', that is, when one is angry it is difficult to understand what it is like for one to be happy, and vice versa. The implications of this were explored in the realm of sexual decision-making, where young men in an unaroused 'cold state' fail to predict that when they are in an aroused 'hot state' they will be more likely to make risky sexual decisions such as not using a condom (2006)^[1].

[edit] Evaluability

Along with co-authors Christopher Hsee, Sally Blount, and Max Bazerman, Loewenstein ^[2] pioneered research on evaluability and joint-separate preference reversals. This theory states that attributes of an option that are well known, such as GPA for college candidates, are given greater weight than attributes one knows little about, such as number of programs written in an obscure language, when one is evaluating options in isolation (separate evaluation). However, when two candidates are considered together, the less evaluable option is given increased weight because it is possible to make a simple comparison between the two options on that attribute (i.e., more or less programs written in an obscure language).

[edit] References