Daniel A. DeCaro, PhD (Associate Professor)
Decision Science
Sustainability / Social-Ecological Resilience
Cooperative Decision-Making
Institutional Psychology
Psychological & Brain Sciences | Urban & Public Affairs | Social Decision Making & Sustainability Lab (SDS Lab)
daniel.decaro@louisville.edu | (502) 852-1166
Education
POSTDOC (Political Economy, Institutional Analysis, Social-Ecological Systems and Sustainability). Vincent and Elinor Ostrom Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis, Indiana University - Bloomington (2010-2013)
PhD (Decision Science, Social Cognition): Miami University (2010)
BA (Psychology, Philosophy: Double major, Honors): Western Kentucky University (2005)
- Visiting Scholar (Political Psychology): Summer Institute in Political Psychology, Stanford University (2008)
Research Interests
Institutional Psychology | Decision Science/Behavioral Economics | Societal Cooperation | Environmental Governance: Sustainability & Resilience | Democracy & Self-Governance (State-Reinforced Self-Governance) | Public Policy, Rule Enforcement/Compliance
To understand human behavior, we must understand the social systems (institutions, governments) that people create and act within. To understand institutions and government, we must understand human behavior (motivation, perception, decisions).
I am an interdisciplinary social scientist. My research examines fundamental motivational and decision-making processes involved in societal cooperation and human governance, especially in the domains of sustainability, resilience (adaptation), and societal dilemmas.
- How do people make decisions about governance and public policies, and what motivates people to cooperate, in order to solve difficult societal problems?
- How do democracies function, and how can democratic governance be improved? For example, what is the proper role of government, and its role in facilitating democratic self-governance among members of the public.
- How can we promote adaptation, sustainability, and resilience of social-ecological systems and resources?
Social Decision-Making & Sustainability Lab
We conduct laboratory and field research to understand (a) human motivation and decision making processes, as well as (b) cooperation and governance, in complex societal dilemmas. I am currently developing Humanistic Rational Choice Theory and the State-Reinforced Self-Governance Framework to better explain when and why people, organizations, and governments from diverse positions and perspectives in society work together to solve difficult cooperative problems in a variety of domains.
Please see the Selected Publications and other materials below for more information.
Click on the Social Decision Making & Sustainability (SDS) Lab heading to explore the lab, including current and past student projects.
Join my Lab!
- UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS: Are you interested in being an Undergraduate Research Assistant in my lab? Please complete this application.
- GRADUATE STUDENTS: Email me to inquire about opportunities in Psychological & Brain Sciences or Urban & Public Affairs.
Research Grants
Legal Design Principles of Government-Supported Adaptation: Designing Effective Decentralization Programs in Cities and Vital Water Social-Ecological Systems, (Oct 2018 – Present).National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC) & National Science Foundation DBI-1639145.
- DeCaro (Lead PI), with Co-PI Edella Schlager (University of Arizona)
Psychosocial, Motivational, and Cooperative Effects of Communication, Enforcement, and Participatory Decision Making in Resource Dilemmas. National Science Foundation (NSF), Decision, Risk, and Management Sciences Program of the Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences (Award #1658608), $690,551 (2017-2023).
- DeCaro (Lead PI), with Co-PIs Marco Janssen and Allen Lee (ASU).
- Featured on UofL Today with Mark Hebert (10 minutes). Click here to listen.
Learning How the Community Leads: Evaluating and Informing City-Based Participatory Engagement in West Louisville. Cooperative Consortium for Transdisciplinary Social Justice Research, University of Louisville, $7500 (2017-2022), $7500 (2018-2019).
- Angela Storey (Anthropology), Daniel DeCaro (Psychology and Urban & Public Affairs), David Johnson (Public Health), Allison Smith (Louisville Metro Government), Lauren Heberle (Center for Environmental Policy & Management), and Jeremy Jackson (undergraduate fellow).
Selected Publications
Democracy, Enforcement, and Cooperation (Resource Sustainability)
DeCaro, D.A., Janssen, M.A., & Lee, A. (2021). Motivational Foundations of Communication, Voluntary Cooperation, and Self-Governance in a Resource Dilemma. Current Research in Ecological and Social Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cresp.2021.100016
- Codebook for Analyzing Content and Function of Communication in Social-Ecological Dilemma Experiments (1.0). SocArXiv. https://doi.org/10.31235/osf.io/856hm
Janssen, M.A., DeCaro, D.A., & Lee, A. (accepted). An agent-based model of the interaction between inequality, trust, and communication in common pool experiments.The Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulations, 25(4):3. DOI: 10.18564/jasss.4922
DeCaro, D. A., Janssen, M. A., & Lee, A. (2015). Synergistic effects of voting and enforcement on internalized motivation to cooperate in a resource dilemma. Judgment and Decision Making, 10(6), 511-537. http://journal.sjdm.org/15/15529/jdm15529.pdf
- Featured in a Podcast, Brian Kissell's The Methodology for Psychology Podcast (click to download)
(Click image to see full Science Comic Abstract)
Graphic depiction of DeCaro et al (2021) laboratory experiment
Faustian Bargains, Procedural Utility (Value/Preference for Freedom of Choice)
DeCaro, D.A., DeCaro, M.S., Hotaling, J.M., & Appel, R. (2022). Formalizing the fundamental Faustian bargain: Inefficacious decision-makers sacrifice their freedom of choice to coercive leaders for economic security. PLoS ONE 17(9), e0275265. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0275265
DeCaro., D.A., DeCaro, M.S., Hotaling, J.M., & Johnson, J.G. (2020). Procedural and economic utility in consequentialist choice: Trading freedom of choice to minimize financial losses. Judgment and Decision Making, 15(4), 517-533. http://journal.sjdm.org/12/12425/jdm12425.pdf
Humanistic Rational Choice Theory
DeCaro., D. A. (2018). Humanistic rational choice and compliance motivation in complex societal dilemmas. (Pages 126-147). In S. Siddiki, S. Espinosa, and T. Heikkila (Eds), Contextualizing Compliance in the Public Sector: Individual Motivations, Social Processes, and Institutional Design. Routledge.
DeCaro., D. A. (2019). Humanistic rational choice: understanding the fundamental motivations that drive self-organization and cooperation in commons dilemmas.In B. Hudson, J. Rosenbloom, and D. Cole (Eds), Routledge Handbook of the Study of the Commons. Routledge.
(Click image to see the full Science Comic Abstract)
Graphic depiction of HRCT and brief conceptual history of rational choice theory from Hobbes to Elinor and Vincent Ostrom
State-Reinforced Self-Governance Framework
DeCaro, D. A. , Chaffin, B. C., Schlager, E., Garmestani, A. S. , & Ruhl, J. B. (2017). Legal and institutional foundations of adaptive environmental governance.Ecology and Society 22(1):32. [online] https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-09036-220132
- Talk given at the Ostrom Workshop (click to watch)
DeCaro, D. A. , Arnold, C. A., Boamah, E., & Garmestani, A. S. (2017). Understanding and applying principles of social cognition and decision making in adaptive environmental governance.Ecology and Society 22(1):33. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-09154-220133
DeCaro, D. A., & Stokes, M. K. (2013). Public participation and institutional fit: a social–psychological perspective. Ecology and Society, 18(4), 40. [online] http://dx.doi.org/10.5751/ES-05837-180440
DeCaro, D. A., & Stokes, M. (2008). Social-psychological principles of community-based conservation and conservancy motivation: attaining goals within an autonomy-supportive environment.Conservation Biology, 22(6), 1443-1451
Case Studies and Applied Public Policy
DeCaro, D.A., DeCaro, M.S. (2022). Politically-polarized perceptions of governmental autonomy-support impact internal motivations to comply with COVID-19 safety guidelines. Motivation and Emotion. https://rdcu.be/cTrvO
Sarr, S., Hayes, B., & DeCaro, D.A. (2021). Applying Ostrom's Institutional Analysis and Development framework, and design principles for co-production, to pollution management in Louisville's Rubbertown, Kentucky. Land Use Policy, 104, 105383. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2021.105383
(Click image to see the full Science Comic Abstract)
Graphic depiction of DeCaro and DeCaro (2022)
Civic Education via Exploratory Learning in Social Dilemma Games
Bush, J., DeCaro, M.S., & DeCaro, D.A. (2023). Playing a Social Dilemma Game as an Exploratory Learning Activity Before Instruction Improves Conceptual Understanding. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied. https://doi.org/10.1037/xap0000470
Courses Taught
Psychology
- Reasoning and Decision Making (Psy 314)
Sustainability
- Behavioral Dimensions of Sustainability (Sust 202)
- Sustainable Social-Ecological Systems (Grad)
- Sustainable Societal Systems (Sust 403)
- Introduction to Sustainability (Grad)
Public Resources
Podcasts, Panel Discussions, & Interviews
- Why It Seems Harder For Us All To Get Along (Producer: Michelle Tyrene Johnson). In Conversation (89.3 WFPL Radio)
- Participatory Governance (Producer: Micheal Cox). In Common Podcast, International Association for the Study of the Commons.
- News Commentary: Louisville can “prosper” with shared decision-making and neighborhood planning.Insider Louisville (Nov., 2018).
- Interview: The next Louisville: what trash cans tells us about poverty (Jacob Ryan, 2018) Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting
- General discussion: Societal Cooperation and Cooperative Experiments. UofL Today with Mark Hebert.
- Discussion: Research methodology to study voting and enforcement effects in cooperative resource experiments. Methodology for Psychology Podcast (Producer: Brian Kissell)
Instructional Materials for Educators
- LESSON PLANS: Psychological (Behavioral) Aspects of Sustainability (College and Elementary School Level) (click to download)
- SYLLABUS: Reasoning and Decision Making (Interdisciplinary Decision Science), (College Level) (click to download)
Sustainability Policy
- Vision: Social Sustainability Guidelines and Metrics for Transportation in Louisville: A Proposal for TARC's APTA Sustainability Commitment (download)
Tool for Community-Based Collective Action
- Diagnostic Questions for Solving Complex Social-Ecological Problems: A Tool for Community-Based Collective Action (download)