The IIC-NY hosts former Director Prof. Riccardo Viale presenting his latest book:
Human Behavior and Embodied Cognition to Promote Individual and Public Wellbeing
the author will be in conversation with
Vittorio Gallese
Varun Gauri
Cristina Bicchieri
Riccardo Viale is Full Professor of Behavioral Sciences and Cognitive Economics at the Department of Economics of the University of Milan Bicocca and at LUISS, Rome. President of Behavioral Insights Bicocca and Co-Director of the Master “Nudge and Public Policy”. Early in his career he was Nato Fellow at Balliol College, Oxford University, Research Scholar at Italian Academy of Columbia University, at Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin and at Chinese Academy of Science, Bejing. He was European Research Council reviewer and panel member of Mind and its Complexity Consolidator Grants. He is currently Head of Italy Behavioral Insights Team at Prime Minister Department of Civil Service. Founder and Secretary General of Herbert Simon Society. Editor in Chief of Mind & Society (Nature-Springer). Author of many books and publications including the Handbook on Bounded Rationality (Routledge, 2021) and “Nudging” (The MIT Press, 2022).
His previous empirical research was in category-based induction, conjunction fallacy, vague predicates and deductive reasoning in science. Recent empirical research is on social norm nudging and behavioral design in public policy and public administration. His theoretical research focuses on the cognitive foundation of the methodology of social sciences, by the proposal of the theory of “Methodological Cognitivism”; on the introduction of the concept of “Cognitive Economics” to overcome the failures of behavioral economics; and on the wide embodied dimension of bounded rationality. In particular his critique is to the influence of SEU model to the development of the cognitive psychology of decision making and his proposal is to focus on the wide embodied dimension of problem solving and action by the introduction of the concept of enactive problem-solving.
Vittorio Gallese MD is Professor of Psychobiology at the University of Parma, Italy where he is Director of the Lab of Social Cognitive Neuroscience, Fellow at the Italian Academy of Advanced Studies in America of Columbia University, New York, USA, Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Philosophy of the School of Advanced Study of the University of London, UK and honorary member of the American College of Psychiatrists. Cognitive neuroscientist, his research focuses on the relation between the sensory-motor system and social cognition by investigating the neurobiological grounding of intersubjectivity, psychopathology, language and aesthetics. He is the author of more than 300 scientific publications and three books.
Varun Gauri is Lecturer of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University, where he teaches courses on ethics, behavioral public policy, and international development. Previously, he was for two decades an economist in the World Bank’s research department, where he founded and headed the World Bank’s behavioral science unit. He was also Co-Director of the World Bank’s World Development Report 2015: Mind, Society, and Behavior. He has served on the Technical Advisory Group for Behavioral Insights at the World Health Organization, the Advisory Board of the Behavioral Policy Association, the Advisory Board of the Behavioral Economics in Action Centre at the University of Toronto, a member of World Economic Forum Council on Behavior, and the editorial boards of the journals Behavioral Public Policy, Health and Human Rights, and BMJ Global Health. His publications have appeared in journals such as PNAS, American Political Science Review, Journal of Political Philosophy, and World Bank Economic Review. His current research addresses behavioral economics, human rights, and social policy in developing countries.
Cristina Bicchieri S.J.P. Harvie Professor of Social Thought and Comparative Ethics; Professor of Philosophy and Psychology (SAS) and Legal Studies (Wharton); Head, Behavioral Ethics Lab; Director, Master of Behavioral and Decision Sciences; Founder, Penn Social Norms Group. Ph.D. Cambridge University. Laurea (Summa cum Laude) University of Milano
She is the author of several books including Norms in the Wild: How to Diagnose, Measure and Change Social Norms; The Grammar of Society: the Nature and Dynamics of Social Norms; Rationality and Coordination; and Ragioni per Credere, Ragioni per Fare. Convenzioni e Vincoli nel Metodo Scientifico. She has edited 5 volumes, including The Logic of Strategy, The Dynamics of Norms and Knowledge, Belief, and Strategic Interaction. Professor Bicchieri came on as Director of the PPE Program in 2005.
