I received my PhD in May 2015 and am no longer at the University of Pennslvania! I will be starting at the Boston Consulting Group this fall.
Contact Information:
Betty Kim Viechnicki
Department of Psychology
University of Pennsylvania
3720 Walnut Street, C14
Philadelphia, PA 19103
bettyek@sas.upenn.edu
Research Interests
Broadly speaking, I am interested in how people make decisions, what factors affect decision-making, and what the underlying cognitive and neural processesses of decision-making are. My research uses behavioral, eye-tracking and fMRI methods to investigate the mechanisms behind decision-making. Currently, Joseph Kable and I are investigating the decision strategies people engage in as the decision context increases in complexity (e.g., increases in the number of options, added time pressure) and the differential patterns in visual attention during economic decision-making. I am also interested in cognitive effort, self-control, and boredom and how they relate to decision-making. Check out the Kable Lab website to see what members of the Kable Lab are working on.
Advisory Committee:
Joseph Kable (adviser)
Martha Farah
Barbara Mellers
Russell Epstein (for '12-'13 academic year)
Students I advise(d):
Maggie Merrill (Psychology, '13-'14)
Yael Burla (Biological Basis of Behavior, '12-'14)
Justin Reggi (Biological Basis of Behavior,'11-'12)
Nitya Kanuri (Biological Basis of Behavior,'12)
Darryl Seligman ('11)
Publications
- Duckworth, A.L.,Tsukayama, E., and Kim, B.E.. (2013). Development and validation of a domain-specific impulsivity scale for children. Developmental Psychology, 16(6), 879-893.
- Duckworth, A.L., Kim, B.E. and Tsukayama, E. (2013). Life stress impairs self-control in adolescents. Frontiers in Developmental Psychology, 3(608), 1-12.
- Kim, B.E., Seligman, D., and Kable, J.W. (2012) Preference reversals in risky decision-making are accompanied by changes in attention to different attributes. Frontiers in Decision Neuroscience, 6(19).
- Tsukayama, E., Duckworth, A.L., and Kim, B.E. (2012) Resisting everything but temptation: Evidence and an explanation for domain-specific impulsivity. European Journal of Personality, 26, 318-334.
Curriculum Vitae
Teaching
About Me
Hello! I am a California native and grew up in the Los Angeles area. I moved to Philadelphia right after college to get a master's in social work at UPenn's School of Social Policy and Practice with the goal of improving how we recognize and help maltreated children. As I learned more about how decisions are made in the child welfare system and how risk of maltreatment was assessed, I became more and more interested in how people make decisions and what factors influence decision-making.
After my masters program, I worked with Dr. Angela Duckworth at the Positive Psychology Center investigating non-cognitive factors (e.g., self-control and grit) that contribute to personal and academic achievement. I worked with Dr. Duckworth until I started the PhD program at the University of Pennsylvania.
I currently live in Philadelphia with my husband Bryon. When I'm not working on research, I volunteer at the Philadelphia animal shelter. I am a part of the Pen Pals group and work one-on-one with the shelter's longest canine residence. Check out the group and the dogs in the program! ACCT Pen Pals