Expertise

Topics:  Health Behavior, Decision Research, Field Experiments‎, Decision Processes, Risk Preferences, Default Effect, Behavorial Game Theory, Public Health Analysis

Industries: Health and Wellness, Public Policy

Gretchen Chapman has been a Professor in Social & Decision Sciences since 2017. Prior to joining the faculty at CMU, Dr. Chapman was a Distinguished Professor of Psychology at Rutgers University where she served as Department Chair of Psychology and Acting Co-Director of the Center for Cognitive Science. She is the recipient of an APA early career award and a NJ Psychological Association Distinguished Research Award, a fellow of APA and APS. She is a former senior editor at Psychological Science, a past president of the Society for Judgment & Decision Making, the author of more than 100 journal articles, and the recipient of 20 years of continuous external funding.

Media Experience

Workplace requirements a strong tool to reduce COVID-19 risk: expert  — McKnight's Senior Living
But, Chapman said, mask-wearing is an example of the “power of situation.” “We behave in different ways in different situations depending on the context. The important part of context is social norms, or what other people are doing,” she said. “If we can structure the situation so mask-wearing looks like the normative thing to do, then a lot of folks are going to follow along and follow that norm.”

It’s Time to Wear a Mask Again, Health Experts Say  — New York Times
"Realistically, not everyone in the United States — or a certain city — will wear a mask. In fact, you might find yourself the only person in a store or on a plane who’s wearing one. Don’t let that discourage you. For one thing, remember that no one is thinking about you as much as you think they are. In social psychology, this is called the spotlight illusion, said Gretchen Chapman, a professor of social and decision sciences at Carnegie Mellon University. 'I may feel that everyone’s staring at me because I’m wearing a mask, but chances are that’s like the 11th thing on their list to worry about,' she said. What’s more, Dr. Chapman said, 'There are lots of situations in life where we do something that makes us feel awkward, but if we think it’s important enough, we do it anyway.'”

Scaling the cost of government programs using a cost-per-person price tag improves comprehension by the general public  — Phys Org
"When President Trump wanted to spend $10 billion on the border wall, conservatives were saying it was a great idea while liberals were saying why spend that much money on a wall," said Gretchen Chapman, department head and professor of Social and Decision Sciences at CMU. Chapman is the senior author on the study. "This got our team thinking, and we began by asking how big is $10 billion, and how do people really think about such a really big number?"

Why are masks such a big deal for so many? Psychologists have thoughts  — NPR
A Florida judge struck down the federal travel mask mandate last Monday, and while companies aren't being forced to drop their mandates, many have. Meanwhile, the Omicron subvariant BA.2 now accounts for 75 percent of new COVID cases in the U.S. To mask or not to mask continues to be a divisive question. We get into the psychology of why. Dr. Anthony Fauci, Gretchen Chapman, and Steven Taylor join us for the conversation.

America’s Flu-Shot Problem Is Also Its Next COVID-Shot Problem  — The Atlantic
We don’t have to resign ourselves to this fate. Flu shots have had their failures, but they’ve clearly had their successes too. Roughly half of American adults don’t get an annual flu shot. The other half do. “The best predictor of whether you got a flu shot this year is if you got one last year,” says Gretchen Chapman, a cognitive scientist who studies vaccine behaviors at Carnegie Mellon University. To at least a degree, we have been doing a few things right.

Children's Risk Of Serious Illness From COVID-19 Is As Low As It Is For The Flu  — NPR
"If you stop going into stores because you're terrified you'll run into an unmasked person, that's probably overreacting," says Gretchen Chapman, a psychology professor who studies health conundrums like this at Carnegie Mellon University.