Daniel A. DeCaro
- Media Contact
- SPN Mentor
I am an interdisciplinary social scientist. I received my PhD in Social Cognition at Miami University in 2010 and then completed three years of postdoctoral training in Behavioral Economics and Environmental Governance with Elinor Ostrom at the Vincent & Elinor Ostrom Workshop in Political Theory & Policy Analysis at Indiana University. I am also active in Environmental Law. I am currently an Assistant Professor in the Departments of Urban & Public Affairs and Psychological & Brain Sciences at the University of Louisville.
I direct the Social Decision Making & Sustainability Lab at the University of Louisville. My research focuses on motivational and social decision making processes that underlie people's ability to cooperatively solve social dilemmas in environmental and human governance situations (e.g., sustainable management of environmental resources and voluntary contributions to public goods). I am also interested in factors that promote environmentally responsible behavior, and conduct research on social justice dimensions of community-based governance and public participation in environmental decision making. My recent work pertains to water governance, and resilient management of complex rivers and streams.
I have several projects underway right now in the laboratory and field, looking at different aspects of societal cooperation, democratic process (e.g., public participation), and environmental governance.
Recent Research Grants:
National Science Foundation (NSF), Decision, Risk, and Management Sciences (Award #1658608), $690,551 (2017-2022). Psychosocial, motivational, and cooperative effects of communication, enforcement, and participatory decision making in resource dilemmas. Lead PI, with Co-PIs Marco Janssen and Allen Lee (ASU). This is a 5-year grant to research psychological processes involved in cooperative decision making in environmental social dilemmas.
University of Louisville's Cooperative Consortium for Transdisciplinary Social Justice Research, Faculty Grant Fellowship, $7500 (2017-2018). Learning how the community leads: evaluating and informing city-based participatory engagement in West Louisville. 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 research assistant). This is a renewable research grant, focusing on evaluating the sociological and social cognitive processes involved in city-lead public engagement and participatory democracy; we are conducting citizen interviews and surveying perceptions and preferences for public engagement.
Teaching:
I regularly teach courses in: Quantitative Methods for Psychology, Behavioral Dimensions of Sustainability, Sustainable Social-Ecological Systems, Introduction to Sustainability, and Reasoning and Decision Making (new for Spring 2019).
Primary Interests:
- Group Processes
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Law and Public Policy
- Motivation, Goal Setting
- Political Psychology
- Social Cognition
Research Group or Laboratory:
Internships and Assistantships:
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Video Gallery
State-Reinforced Co-Production of Community-Governed Greenspace in Racially Marginalized Urban Neighborhoods
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1:02:46 State-Reinforced Co-Production of Community-Governed Greenspace in Racially Marginalized Urban Neighborhoods
Length: 1:02:46
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59:53 The Role of Political Affiliation and Fundamental Needs in Cooperation with U.S. COVID-19 Safety Guidelines
Length: 59:53
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2:45 Advice for Young Researchers
Length: 2:45
Journal Articles:
- Arnold, T., Green, O., DeCaro, D. A., Chase, A., & Ewa, J. (2015). The social-ecological resilience of an eastern urban-suburban watershed: The Anacosta river basin. Idaho Law Review, 51(1), 30-88.
- 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.
- DeCaro, D. A., Bar-Eli, M., Conlin, J. A., & Plessner, H. (2009). How do motoric realities shape, and become shaped by, the way people evaluate and select potential courses of action? Toward a unitary framework of embodied decision making. Progress in Brain Research, 174, 189-203.
- 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.
- DeCaro, D. A., DeCaro, M. S., & Rittle-Johnson, B. (2014). Achievement motivation and knowledge development during exploratory learning. Learning and Individual Differences, 37, 13-26.
- DeCaro, D. A., Janssen, M. A., & Lee, A. (with Ostrom, E). (2015). Synergistic effects of voting and enforcement on internalized motivation to cooperate in a resource dilemma. Judgment and Decision Making, 10(6), 511-537.
- DeCaro, D. A., & Stokes, M. (2013). Public participation and institutional fit: A social-psychological perspective. Ecology and Society, 18(4): 40.
- 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.
Courses Taught:
- Behavioral Dimensions of Sustainability (Environmental Decision Making)
- Environmental Psychology
- Introduction to Sustainability
- Quantitative Methods in Psychology
- Reasoning and Decision Making
- Sustainable Social-Ecological Systems
Daniel A. DeCaro
Department of Urban & Public Affairs
University of Louisville
426 West Bloom Street
Louisville, Kentucky 40208
United States of America
- Phone: (502) 852-2927