Leonardo Cohen

Contact

• workRoom C34 Psychology
  University Park
  Nottingham
  NG7 2RD
  UK
• work0115 95 15283
• Leonardo.Cohen@nottingham.ac.uk

Biography

I am an experimental cognitive psychologist interested in risky decision-making. I obtained my PhD from UCL investigating the description-experience gap, and I am particular interested in researching decisions from descriptions and experience.

Previously, I worked as a management and strategy consultant for corporate and investment banks, which is why I am also interested in researching behavioural finance and financial decision-making.

Expertise Summary

My research focuses on decisions under uncertainty, in particular investigating how individuals combine risk and probability information from different sources when making decisions. I am interested in how descriptive and experiential information are integrated when individuals make decisions.

I am also interested in applications of risky decision-making, in two key areas: gambling, and trading. I have recently been awarded a research grant by the British Academy/Leverhulme to explore the gamblification of trading platforms.

I also research how to create more efficient warnings and disclaimers which can help individuals make better decisions. Recent research projects the evaluation of safer gambling message employed in the UK, the development of better disclaimers to help individuals make better financial and investment decisions, and how disclaimers can influence the attribution of blame when using smart products (in collaboration with the UK Government's Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy).

Selected Publications

• NEWALL, PHILIP WS, HAYES, TY, SINGMANN, HENRIK, WEISS-COHEN, LEONARDO, LUDVIG, ELLIOT A and WALASEK, LUKASZ, 2023. Evaluation of the' take time to think' safer gambling message: a randomised, online experimental study Behavioural Public Policy.
• WEISS-COHEN, LEONARDO, NEWALL, PHILIP WS and AYTON, PETER, 2022. Persistence is futile: Chasing of past performance in repeated investment choices. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied. 28(2), 341
• WEISS-COHEN, LEONARDO, KONSTANTINIDIS, EMMANOUIL and HARVEY, NIGEL, 2021. Timing of descriptions shapes experience-based risky choice Journal of Behavioral Decision Making. 34(1), 66-84
• WEISS-COHEN, LEONARDO, KONSTANTINIDIS, EMMANOUIL, SPEEKENBRINK, MAARTEN and HARVEY, NIGEL, 2016. Incorporating conflicting descriptions into decisions from experience Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes. 135, 55-69

• View all publications

• NEWALL, PHILIP WS, HAYES, TY, SINGMANN, HENRIK, WEISS-COHEN, LEONARDO, LUDVIG, ELLIOT A and WALASEK, LUKASZ, 2023. Evaluation of the' take time to think' safer gambling message: a randomised, online experimental study Behavioural Public Policy.
• NEWALL, PHILIP, WEISS-COHEN, LEONARDO, SINGMANN, HENRIK, WALASEK, LUKASZ and LUDVIG, ELLIOT, 2022. Impact of the 'when the fun stops, stop' safer gambling message on online gambling behaviour: A randomised online experimental study Lancet Public Health.
• WEISS-COHEN, LEONARDO, NEWALL, PHILIP WS and AYTON, PETER, 2022. Persistence is futile: Chasing of past performance in repeated investment choices. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied. 28(2), 341
• WEISS-COHEN, LEONARDO, AYTON, PETER, CLACHER, IAIN and THOMA, VOLKER, 2022. Pension scheme trustees as surrogate decision makers Finance Research Letters. 44, 102043
• AYTON, PETER, WEISS-COHEN, LEONARDO and BARSON, MATTHEW, 2022. Magical contagion and commemorative plaques: Effects of celebrity occupancy on property values Journal of Environmental Psychology. 79, 101723
• NEWALL, PHILIP WS, WEISS-COHEN, LEONARDO, SINGMANN, HENRIK, BOYCE, W PAUL, WALASEK, LUKASZ and ROCKLOFF, MATTHEW J, 2022. A speed-of-play limit reduces gambling expenditure in an online roulette game: Results of an online experiment Addictive behaviors. 127, 107229
• MURRAY, JENNIFER, DHAMI, MANDEEP K, MCCLATCHEY, KIRSTIE, WEISS-COHEN, LEONARDO and AYTON, PETER, 2022. Health, wellbeing, and social interaction: an international and demographic analysis of perceived life changes and the positives and negatives of the COVID-19 lockdown Europe’s Journal of Psychology.
• NEWALL, PHILIP WS and WEISS-COHEN, LEONARDO, 2022. The gamblification of investing: how a new generation of investors is being born to lose International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 19(9), 5391
• NEWALL, PHILIP WS, WEISS-COHEN, LEONARDO, THOMA, VOLKER and AYTON, PETER, 2022. Differences amongst estimates of the UK problem gambling prevalence rate are partly due to a methodological artefact International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction. 1-3
• AYTON, PETER and WEISS-COHEN, LEONARDO, 2021. Smoking versus vaping: how (not) to communicate their relative harms Journal of Risk Research. 24(2), 198-214
• WEISS-COHEN, LEONARDO, KONSTANTINIDIS, EMMANOUIL and HARVEY, NIGEL, 2021. Timing of descriptions shapes experience-based risky choice Journal of Behavioral Decision Making. 34(1), 66-84
• THOMA, VOLKER, WEISS-COHEN, LEONARDO, FILKUKOVA, PETRA and AYTON, PETER, 2021. Cognitive predictors of precautionary behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic Frontiers in Psychology. 12, 325
• SILAS, JONATHAN, JONES, ALEXANDER, WEISS-COHEN, LEONARDO and AYTON, PETER, 2021. The seductive allure of technical language and its effect on covid-19 vaccine beliefs and intentions Vaccine. 39(52), 7590-7597
• WEISS-COHEN, LEONARDO, AYTON, PETER and CLACHER, IAIN, 2020. Extraneous menu-effects influence financial decisions made by pension trustees Economics Letters. 187, 108895
• WEISS-COHEN, L, KONSTANTINIDIS, E, SPEEKENBRINK, M and HARVEY, N, 2018. Task complexity moderates the influence of descriptions in decisions from experience. Cognition. 170, 209-227
• WEISS-COHEN, LEONARDO, KONSTANTINIDIS, EMMANOUIL, SPEEKENBRINK, MAARTEN and HARVEY, NIGEL, 2016. Incorporating conflicting descriptions into decisions from experience Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes. 135, 55-69