Duke Institute for Brain Sciences

My research deals with how people make decisions, and how decision making might be improved. Various topics that I have studied include risky choice behavior, consumer choice, juries and punitive damage awards, retirement planning, and environmental decisions.

Ph.D., University of California, Irvine, Psychology, 1973

M.A., University of California, Irvine, Psychology, 1972

B.A., University of California, Irvine, Program of Mathematical and Computer Models in the Behavioral Sciences, 1969

Payne, J.W., and Venkatraman, V. (2011). Opening the Blackbox: Process Tracing in Decision Research. In Shulte-Mecklenbeck, M., Kuhberger, A. and Ranyard, R. (Eds.), Handbook of Process Tracing Methods in Decision Making (2011).

Venkatraman, V., Payne, J. W., Bettman, J. R., Luce, M. F., & Heuttel, S. A. (2009). Separate neural mechanisms underlie choices and strategic preferences in risky decision making. Neuron, 62, 593-602.

Payne, J. W., Samper, A., Bettman, J. R., & Luce, M. F. (2008). Boundary conditions on unconscious thought in decision making. Psychological Science, 19, 1118-1123.