University of Cologne
Center for Social and Economic Behavior
The Center for Social and Economic Behavior (C-SEB), a Key Profile Area (KPA) of the University of Cologne (UoC), brings together Cologne-based researchers from economics, management science, and psychology. Together with internationally renowned scientists from Europe and the USA, they investigate the fundamental principles and behavioral mechanisms that affect social and economic behavior. Since its establishment in 2019, the Cluster of Excellence ECONtribute is an important partner.
Social and economic behavior is shaping almost all aspects of our lives. But it does not only influence the actions of individuals. Behavior and its underlying motivation and cognition, also affects the success of societies, politics, markets and organizations. Understanding its determinants, and how it can be ‘managed’, is thus of crucial importance for understanding and addressing major challenges to society and humanity.
C-SEB aims to develop an empirically based theory of the institutions that define economic incentives and of the conditions that influence information processing in social and economic contexts. Using a behavioral economics and social cognition approach, the center examines how these mechanisms can be designed and manipulated. C-SEB seeks to build a bridge between laboratory research and real-world contexts in order to contribute to solutions to contemporary challenges in the economy.
Our Aims
Scientific exchange
C-SEB runs various programs to create a productive research environment and to promote interdisciplinary collaboration among scientists. In order to foster communication across disciplines and research units, the center regularly organizes workshops and conferences with international guests.Learn more
Research funding
C-SEB provides funding for outstanding individuals and excellent collaborative research projects in the field of behavioral economics and social cognition. There are six funding lines at the moment that are designed to serve different purposes and target groups.Learn more
Equal opportunity & junior researcher promotion
C-SEB is strongly committed to promote equal opportunities in academia and to advance the careers of junior researchers. The center assists its members with career planning and with reconciling academic and family life.Learn more
Press Releases
Vanessa Clemens, associated member of C-SEB, investigated in a social experiment how people share with others across national borders. The …
Prof. Dr. Axel Ockenfels, Principal Investigator at C-SEB, has co-authored the contribution “A path to a heavy-industry climate coalition” alongside …
Prof. Dr. Johannes Wohlfart, Principal Investigator at C-SEB has been awarded an ERC Starting Grant by the European Research Council. …
The editorial team of Personalmagazin has selected the 40 leading figures in human resources for 2025. The award recognizes individuals …
Mona Mensmann and her co-authors have been awarded the 2024 IGL Annual Research Prize in the category “Best Experimental Paper …
Junior Start-Up Grants Marius Barth (with Karoline Bading) – “The Role of US Probability in Evaluative Learning” Yael Ecker (with …
In the media
Süddeutsche Zeitung, 11.08.2025 | Kerstin Bund & Oliver Klasen
“Axel Ockenfels: […] In der Immobilienbranche, aus der Trump kommt, geht es oft um ein Nullsummenspiel. Was der eine gewinnt, verliert der andere. Da kann eine “Bully”-Strategie, bei der man rabiat und rücksichtslos auftritt, erfolgreich sein. Langfristig, wenn es um vertrauensvolle Zusammenarbeit geht, ist diese Strategie aber nicht zu empfehlen. […] Die Europäer haben nicht schlecht verhandelt. Der Grund für das Ergebnis ist, dass man keinen Handelskonflikt gegen ein Land gewinnen kann, das einen beschützt. Trump verknüpft Handelsfragen mit Verteidigungs- und Sicherheitsfragen – und da ist er in einer starken Position. Trump tritt auf wie ein Schutzgelderpresser, währen Europa mangels militärischer Stärke erpressbar bleibt.”F.A.Z., 02.07.2025 | Louise Otterbein
“In Bäckereien müssen etliche Listen geführt werden. Wenn sich das ändert, blüht das Geschäft auf – aus überraschenden Gründen. […] Besagte Listen wurden von den Forschern mithilfe von Mitarbeiterinterviews zunächst einzeln auf Kosten und Nutzen untersucht und anschließend zwei als “besonders zeitaufwendig und wenig hilfreich” beschriebene Listen in zufällig ausgewählten Filialen über einen Zeitraum von zehn Monaten abgeschafft. Das Ergebnis ist positiv: Der Umsatz ist gestiegen, die Wartezeiten für die Kunden kürzer, und die Mitarbeiter sind zufrieden.”tagesschau.de, 25.06.2025
“Die EU will eine spätere Befüllung der Gasspeicher erlauben. […] Die bisher strikten Vorgaben hatten zu Preissteigerungen beigetragen: Steht zu einem bestimmten Datum die Befüllung der Speicher an, rechnen die Märkte in den Monaten davor mit einer höheren Nachfrage, sodass der Preis steigt. […] Wie eine Untersuchung des Wirtschaftswissenschaftlers Axel Ockenfels zusammen mit zwei Ökonomen des Beratungsunternehmens Frontier Economics zeigt, war Gas wegen des staatlichen Bewirtschaftungssystems zuletzt oft teurer als im Winter.”
Events
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ECONtribute and C-SEB Design & Behavior Seminar // Gabriel Ahlfeldt
19. May 2026 @ 12:00 - 13:00 Room 3.206, Studierenden Service Center (SSC) (Building 102), Universitätsstraße 22a, 50923 Köln
Gabriel Ahlfeldt - The Economics of Architecture
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SALON: LECTURE Olivier Corneille Implicit Measures in Psychological Research (And Beyond): Promises, Setbacks, and the Better Value of Self-Reports
21. May 2026 @ 18:00 - 19:00 Kringsweg 6, 50931 Köln, Germany
Self-report measures directly ask respondents to report their mental content, such as thoughts and feelings. By contrast, implicit measures aim to assess thoughts and feelings using performance indicators (for example, response times, error rates and response frequencies) under conditions that favor automatic processing. Implicit measures are now widely used in psychological science and beyond, because they are assumed to be superior to self-reports in various ways. In this talk, I will argue that, despite the enthusiasm for implicit measures, self-reports are most often the better measurement option. First, the use of implicit measures is often based on mistaken assumptions about the disadvantages of self-reports. Second, self-reports have advantageous characteristics that are currently unmatched in implicit measures. This calls for a more sophisticated use of self-reports and for caution when using implicit measures in basic and applied research.
Olivier Corneille
Olivier Corneille obtained his PhD in 1997 from the Université catholique de Louvain (UCL), in Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium. Following a post-doctoral research stay at the University of California, Berkeley, USA, he secured a permanent position as Research Associate at the Belgian National Fund for Scientific Research (FNRS), before transitioning to Assistant and Associate Professor positions at the UCL. He is now holding a Full Professor position at UCLouvain. Olivier Corneille chaired his research department (IPSY) from 2012 to 2015. He has been a member of UCLouvain’s Research Council from 2018 to 2024. Additionally, he has served as Associate Editor for Social Cognition and Social Psychological and Personality Science. He is a Fellow of the Society for Experimental Social Psychology. Olivier Corneille’s primary research interests revolve around cognitive processes involved in attitude formation, cardiac interoception, and the influence of repetition on truth judgments.
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ECONtribute and C-SEB Design & Behavior Seminar // Torsten Figueiredo Walter
26. May 2026 @ 12:00 - 13:00 Room 3.206, Studierenden Service Center (SSC) (Building 102), Universitätsstraße 22a, 50923 Köln
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C-SEB Early Ideas Workshop // Yasmin Eid (UoC)
29. May 2026 @ 12:00 - 12:45 Online via Zoom
Yasmin Eid - (UoC)
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C-SEB Annual Workshop 2026
1. June 2026 @ 9:30 - 18:30 InnoDom Cologne, Weyertal 109, 50931 Köln, Germany
We look forward to seeing you all at the C-SEB Workshop on June 1, 2026 (approx. 9:30 – 18:30) at the InnoDom Cologne. The program will include talks by C-SEB members and a keynote by Elke Weber from Princeton University, followed by a get-together. This is a fantastic opportunity to get feedback on your work, start new collaborations, and learn about the fascinating work of other C-SEB researchers!
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ECONtribute and C-SEB Design & Behavior Seminar // Jing Zhou
2. June 2026 @ 12:00 - 13:00 Room 3.206, Studierenden Service Center (SSC) (Building 102), Universitätsstraße 22a, 50923 Köln
Jing Zhou - tba
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C-SEB Early Ideas Workshop // Eva Wittmershaus (UoC)
12. June 2026 @ 12:00 - 12:45 Online via Zoom
Eva Wittmershaus - (UoC)
Ideadevelopment in creative teams – an RCT approach
Publications
Conrads, J., Eyberg, A., Irlenbusch, B., & Sarin, M. (2025).
“Does Corporate Responsibility Increase Consumers’ Product Value? Evidence from Two Experiments.” Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 238, 107189.Haylock, M., Kampkötter, P., Macis, M., Seitz, S., Slonim, R., Wienand, E., Wiesen, D., & Schmidt, A. H. (2025).
“How Perceptions of Bone Marrow Donation Costs Affect Donation Behavior: Survey Evidence from a Large Donor Registry.” The European Journal of Health Economics. Advance online publication.Dertwinkel-Kalt, M., & Grossmann, M. R. P. (2025).
“Ideologie schlägt Information: Über die Grenzen von Kommunikation in der Klimapolitik.” Wirtschaftsdienst, 105(7), 495–498.Campos, F., Frese, M., Iacovone, L., Johnson, H. C., McKenzie, D., & Mensmann, M. (2025).
“Long-Term and Lasting Impacts of Personal Initiative Training on Entrepreneurial Success.” American Economic Review: Insights. Advance online publication.Weinmann, M., Schneider, C., & Valacich, J. (2025).
“The Digital Experiment Reporting Protocol (DERP).” Communications of the Association for Information Systems, 57(1).Kölle, F., Quercia, S., & Tripodi, E. (2025).
“Social Preferences Under the Shadow of the Future.” Experimental Economics, 28(1), 22–42.Freyer, T., Radbruch, J., Schaube, S., & Strang, L. (2025).
“The Effect of Task (Mis)matching and Self-Selection on Intrinsic Motivation and Performance.” Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 234, 107010.Kerkhof, A., & Münster, J. (2025).
“Strategic Complementarities in a Model of Commercial Media Bias.” Games, 16(3), 21.Huesmann, K., Ndiaye, Y. S., Waibel, C., & Wiesen, D. (2025).
“How the Design of Ranking Systems and Ability Affects Physician Effort.” Management Science. Advance online publication.Ockenfels, A., Bothe, D., & Janssen, M. (2025).
“Das Dilemma der Speicherverpflichtung im Gasmarkt: Optimiertes Marktdesign erforderlich.” Wirtschaftsdienst, 105(4), 273–281.
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