Felipe Araujo on Lehigh’s Behavioral Research Lab

Image by iStock/Mananya Kaewthawee

In this episode of Lehigh University’s College of Business ilLUminate podcast, host Stephanie Veto talks with Felipe Araujo about Lehigh’s Behavioral Research Lab and some of the studies that have come out of it. 

Araujo is an assistant professor of economics and his research focuses on topics in labor, behavioral, and experimental economics. 

Listen to the podcast here and subscribe and download Lehigh Business on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. 

Below is an edited excerpt from the conversation. Read the complete podcast transcript [PDF]. 

Veto: How did you become interested in studying labor, behavioral and experimental economics? 

Araujo: That happened about 15 years ago. I did my undergrad in Brazil. I was really interested in economics and microeconomics, and people making decisions. I went on to do my master's degree and I started working with this mathematical economist. I thought for quite some time that I would be a decision theorist. That's a branch of economics where you write these very complicated mathematical models about how people are making decisions and optimizing. At some point, I read Nudge. It’s a 2008 book by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein, which is kind of an introduction to some of the ideas in behavioral economics, and I was just hooked. From that point on, I couldn't trust those very complicated mathematical models anymore, and it was just nonstop from there. Then I came to the United States to do my Ph.D., and I already knew exactly what I wanted to do. 

Veto: Can you describe what the Behavioral Research Lab is? 

Araujo: I think of the Behavior Research Lab, or the BRL, as both a physical location and an institution in a way that it brings together researchers in the College of Business that are in different areas and different departments, but doing behavioral related work. 

Let's start with the physical part of it. It's a fantastic space that we have in the Business Innovation Building and it has three components. It has this individual experiment room where we have 24 computers. The participants will come in and they participate in decision-making experiments. Then, there's this big room where we can run group-type experiments and participants can negotiate and can discuss. We have some interesting work going on there. And, we can observe them. There's a one-way mirror, kind of FBI-style thing. For some people, it might be interesting to see how the participants are interacting. For example, how are they dealing with the technology if you're testing a technology thing? We also have a small kitchen, which has been used for marketing-type experiments where you actually want people to interact with products and you want to study all kinds of things. So, it's this really fantastic place. 

We have meetings. We have discussions. We have all kinds of different studies going on there. So, it's a physical space and it's a hub for behavioral research. 

Veto: What's the overall goal of the lab? 

Araujo: There are a number of goals to facilitate research. Having the lab here is a game changer for those doing experimental work. Another thing that it allows us to do is involve students. I've worked with at least three undergraduate students that were directly involved in either running their own studies or getting involved with faculty studies, and helping them run and understanding how behavioral research gets done. That's kind of a big goal of the lab. 

Also, this idea of having a hub. If you have a place where people go to do research, people start knowing about other people's work, and now it becomes a hub. It becomes like the center of gravity. People are talking about their own research and collaborating because now they have their own space. 

It's great for the college's visibility, as well. In early September, we had a conference here. It was a one-day conference of behavior and experimental economists. In large part, it happened because we have the lab here. People know that research is being done here, so people actually registered and came. It was a wonderful day. 

Veto: Why is having this hands-on lab and hub and research experience so important for the students? 

Araujo: I think that's hugely important for a number of reasons. The way I look at this is that the research process is a creative process that involves so many different skills; from being able to define our research questions, to thinking through what the data is going to look like, to designing an experiment, to analyzing data, to then communicate with people what it is that you found. So, from a student's perspective, being exposed to that process, I think, can be hugely valuable. And, students really want to do this. I like to involve as many students as I can, but of course, I have limited time and budget. 

The students are participants in our studies. So they can do this either as a credit requirement or an extra credit for a class. Or, they can get paid. They can also have this opportunity to come and see how research is being done. For those interested in going to graduate school, for example, it’s a very nice way to expose them to the research process, so I see this as beneficial to students in a variety of ways.