English

Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore

ECONOMIC PSYCHOLOGY

 

Name and surname of the Coordinator and of the members of the Research Unit

Coordinator: Edoardo Lozza

Members: Alessandro Antonietti, Michela Balconi, Alberto Banfi, Elena Beccalli, Mauro Bertolotti, Andrea Bonanomi, Cinzia Castiglioni, Patrizia Catellani, Cinzia Di Dio, Guendalina Graffigna, Paola Iannello, Margherita Lanz, Andrea Lippi, Elisabetta Lombardi, Claudia Manzi, Federico Manzi, Antonella Marchetti, Davide Massaro, Francesco Pagnini, Federica Poli, Maura Pozzi, Angela Sorgente, Andrea Tarelli, Piero Tedeschi, Annalisa Valle.

Presentation

The Research Unit aims to foster the development of synergies in the field of Economic Psychology, a multi-disciplinary area derived from the convergence of economics and psychology.

Economic Psychology can be defined - according to the most accredited journal in the field, the Journal of Economic Psychology - as "a discipline that studies the psychological mechanisms that underlie economic behavior". Starting from Katona, Simon, Kahneman and other scholars in the last century, economic psychology laid the foundations for the development of behavioral economics, behavioral finance and nudging-based policies, which are only some of the most recent successful applications of the discipline.

For years, the Department of Psychology has been working on diverse topics connected to Economic Psychology, which by their nature require an interdisciplinary approach. Some of the main areas of research and intervention are proposed below:

  • cognitive processes underlying economic decisions (decision-making, heuristics and bias, ...)
  • financial literacy, education and socialization to economic issues
  • neuropsychological correlates of economic decisions (neuroeconomics)
  • development of measurement tools related to economic decisions (e.g., financial well-being, risk propensity, ...)
  • economic decisions in the life cycle (developmental psychoeconomics)
  • social influences in financial choices (family, financial advisors, ...)
  • perception of financial risk (insurance, investments, ...)
  • psychology of money (money management, symbolic aspects of money, ...)
  • psychology of consumption and savings
  • fiscal psychology (taxation and government spending)
  • psychology of prosocial spending (charitable giving, fundraising, ...)
  • psychology of over-indebtedness.

 

The establishment of the UdR aims to achieve four main objectives:

  • to promote dialogue among researchers within the Catholic University
  • to strengthen the visibility of UC research on the topics of economic psychology
  • to facilitate cooperation with researchers in non-psychological areas
  • to consolidate UC position in relation to competitive calls, research and intervention (third mission) proposals and teaching initiatives in the field of economic psychology

Training and third mission activities

Members of the Research Unit promote many different training and third mission activities, in collaboration with companies, public and private institutions. Recent initiatives include:

  • training courses on Behavioral Economics
  • research and interventions to promote financial literacy (schools, prisons, ...)
  • research commissioned by banks, insurance and credit institutions
  • research-interventions in the area of tax compliance (Agenzia delle Entrate)

Selected pubblications

BEHAVIORAL FINANCE

YEAR 2022

  1. Lozza E. Castiglioni C., Bonanomi A., Poli F. (2022). Money as a symbol in the relationship between financial advisors and their clients: A dyadic study. The International Journal of Bank Marketing, 40(4), 613-630., https://doi.org/10.1108/IJBM-04-2021-0124
  2. Lippi A., Rossi, S., Soana, M. (2022). Status quo bias and risk tolerance in asset allocation decision-making. Journal of neuroscience Psychology, and Economics, 15(4), 195-209. https://dx.doi.org/10.1037/npe0000166

 

YEAR 2021

  1. Lippi, A., Lozza, E., Poli, F., & Castiglioni, C. (2021). How does the emotional meaning associated with money and financial advisor’s characteristics impact investors’ risk-taking?. Journal of Neuroscience, Psychology, and Economics, 14(4), 207–221. https://doi.org/10.1037/npe0000150

 

FINANCIAL WELL-BEING

YEAR 2022

  1. Vosylis, R., Sorgente, A., Serido, J., Lanz, M. & Raižienė, S. (2022). Becoming Financially Self-sufficient: Developing a Need-Supportive and Need-Thwarting Scale for financial parenting of emerging adults. Journal of Personality Assessment. Advance online publication.  https://doi.org/10.1080/00223891.2022.2075268
  2. Serido, J., Sorgente, A., Lanz, M., & Shim, S. (2022). Becoming self-sufficient: A longitudinal person-centered examination of financial identity formation and adult status during the transition to adulthood. Applied Developmental Science. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888691.2022.2035224    

 

YEAR 2021

  1. Iannello, P., Sorgente, A., Lanz, M., Antonietti, A. (2021). Financial Well-being as Predictor of Subjective and Psychological Well-being among Emerging Adults: Testing the Moderator Effect of Individual Differences. Journal of Happiness Studies, 22(3), 1385-1411
  2. Sorgente, A., Rolla, C., & Lanz, M. (2021). Benessere finanziario e stress finanziario nei giovani adulti: uno studio longitudinale intensivo per comprendere i legami e descrivere il cambiamento. Giornale Italiano di Psicologia, 2021(4), 957–993. https://doi.org/10.1421/104148
  3. Sorgente, A., Totenhagen, C. J., & Lanz, M. (2021). The use of the intensive longitudinal methods to study financial well-being: A scoping review and future research agenda. Journal  of Happiness Studies. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-021-00381-6  
  4. Vosylis, R., Sorgente, A., & Lanz, M. (2021). The role of financial identity processes in financial behaviors and financial well-being. Emerging Adulthood .https://doi.org/10.1177/21676968211016142

 

CONSUMPTION

YEAR 2022

  1. Angioletti, L., Cassioli, F., Balconi, M. (2022). Wireless eye-tracking technology application and self-report measures to explore users’ approach to Smart Home Systems (SHS), in Converging Clinical and Engineering Research on Neurorehabilitation IV (D. Torricelli, M. Akay, J.L. Pons, Eds.), Springer, Cham, pp. 159-163.
  2. Balconi, M., Acconito, C., & Angioletti, L. (2022). Emotional effects in object recognition by the visually impaired people in grocery shopping. Sensors, 22(21), 8442. https://doi.org/10.3390/s22218442
  3. Balconi, M., Sansone, M., & Angioletti, L. (2022). Consumers in the face of COVID-19-related advertising: threat or boost effect? Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 747852. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.834426
  4. Carfora, V. & Catellani, P. (2022). Advertising innovative sustainable fashion: Informational, transformational, or sustainability appeal? Sustainability, 14, 16148.
  5. Carfora V., Morandi M., & Catellani P. (2022). Predicting and promoting the consumption of plant-based meat. British Food Journal, 124, 4800-4822.
  6. Carfora V., Morandi M., & Catellani P. (2022). The influence of message framing on consumers’ selection of local food. Foods, 11, 1268.
  7. Carfora, V., Zeiske, N., van der Werff, E., Steg, L. & Catellani, P. (2022). Adding dynamic norm to environmental information in persuasive messages: The role of receivers’ intrinsic motivation. Environmental Communication, 16, 900-919.
  8. Cassioli, F., Angioletti, L., & Balconi, M. (2022). Tracking eye-gaze in smart home systems (SHS): first insights from eye-tracking and self-report measures. Journal of Ambient Intelligence and Humanized Computing, 13(5), 2753–2762. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12652-021-03134-8
  9. Castellini, G., & Graffigna, G. (2022). “Food is more than just a source of nutrients”: A qualitative phenomenological study on Food Involvement. Appetite, 178, 106179. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2022.106179
  10. Castellini, G., & Graffigna, G. (2022a). Assessing Involvement with Food: A Systematic Review of Measures and Tools. Food Quality and Preference, 97, 104444. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodqual.2021.104444
  11. Castellini G., Sesini G., Iannello P., Lombi L., Lozza E., Lucini L., Graffigna G. (2022). “Omics” technologies for the certification of organic vegetables: Consumers’ orientation in Italy and the main determinants of their acceptance. Food Control, Volume 141, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodcont.2022.109209.
  12. Lozza E., Graffigna G. (2022). Introduzione alla psicologia dei consumatori. Il Mulino, Bologna
  13. Savarese, M., Castellini, G., Paleologo, M., & Graffigna, G. (2022). Determinants of palm oil consumption in food products: A systematic review. Journal of Functional Foods, 96, 105207. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jff.2022.105207
  14. Savarese, M., Castellini, G., Morelli, L., & Graffigna, G. (2022). Can “Free-From” Food Consumption Be a Signal of Psychological Distress during COVID-19? Foods, 11(4), 513. https://doi.org/10.3390/foods11040513

 

FINANCIAL LITERACY & ECONOMIC EDUCATION

YEAR 2022

  1. Iannello, P., Robba, M., Sorgente, A., Lanz, M. (2022). Educazione finanziaria: linee guida per la progettazione e lo sviluppo di percorsi “su misura”. In: Antonietti A., Valenti C., Skill training: Interventi psicologici per allenare la mente (pp. 149-182). Milano: Franco Angeli.
  2. Lippi, A., Rossi, S. (2022). Next generation investors and financial advice consumption: An empirical analysis. International Journal of Financial Research, 13(2), 44-60. https://dx.doi.org/10.5430/ijfr.v13n2p44
  3. Marchetti, A., Massaro, D., Lombardi, E., Rinaldi, T. Valle, A. (2022). “Educazione economico-finanziaria in famiglia: dalla comunicazione agli interventi educativi”, Report di ricerca per Fondazione Credito Valtellinese in collaborazione con FEduF (Fondazione per l’Educazione Finanziaria e al Risparmio)
  4. Marchetti, A., Massaro, D., Lombardi, E., Rinaldi, T. Valle, A. (2022). “L’educazione finanziaria: il punto di vista dei genitori”, Report di ricerca per Nexi in collaborazione con FEduF (Fondazione per l’Educazione Finanziaria e al Risparmio)

 

YEAR 2021

  1. Lombardi, E., Valle, A., Rinaldi, T., Massaro, D. & Marchetti, A. (2021). Learning to wait and be altruistic: testing a conversational training in economic education for primary school children. Europe's Journal of Psychology. http://dx.DOI.org/10.23668/psycharchives.4701
  2. Marchetti, A., Rinaldi, T., Lombardi, E., Massaro, D., Valle, A. (2021). Learning to wait, be altruistic, and fair: a primary school training in economic education. In (Eds) Viale, R., Filotto, U., Alemanni, B., Mousavi, S. (2021). Financial Education and Risk Literacy, Behavioural Financial Regulation and Policy (BEFAIRLY) series, Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham, UK pag. 112-122. ISBN: 978-1-78990-884-8
  3. Valle, A., Rinaldi, T., Lombardi, E., Massaro, D. Marchetti, A. (2021). Economic and Financial Planning in Schools: Reflections and Practical Proposals. In The Organizing Committee the 2nd International Conference of the Journal Scuola Democratica (Eds.) (2021). Reinventing Education. Published by Associazione “Per scuola democratica”, pag. 339-347. ISBN 978-88-944888-6-9

 

NEUROECONOMICS

YEAR 2022

  1. Angioletti, L., Tormen, F., & Balconi, M. (2022). Judgment and embodied cognition of lawyers. Moral decision-making and interoceptive physiology in the legal field. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 853342. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.853342
  2. Balconi, M., Angioletti, L. (2022). Neuroscience and Competitive Behavior, in The Oxford Handbook of the Psychology of Competition (S.M. Garcia, A. Tor, A.J. Elliot, Eds.). Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 1-20.
  3. Balconi, M., Fronda, G., Sansone, M. (2022). Neuroeconomia, Neuromarketing e Neuromanagement, in Neuroetica. Interpretare e Orientare la Rivoluzione delle Neuroscienze (A. Lavazza, V. Sironi, Eds.), Carocci Editore, Roma.
  4. Cassioli, F., & Balconi, M. (2022). Advertising in app: a neuroscientific approach. International Journal of Internet Marketing and Advertising, 16(3), 257. https://doi.org/10.1504/ijima.2022.122243
  5. Cassioli, F., & Balconi, M. (2022). The complexity of remote learning: a neuroergonomical discussion. Frontiers in Neurorobotics, 16, 842151. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnbot.2022.842151
  6. Colombo, B., Iannello, P. (2022). The combined effect of music-induced emotions and neuromodulation on economic decision making. A tDCS study. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 34 (7), 930-938
  7. Sansone, M., & Balconi, M. (2022). ADV at the time of COVID-19. Brain effect between emotional engagement and purchase intention. Brain Sciences, 12(5), 593. https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci12050593

 

YEAR 2021

  1. Balconi, M., Sansone M. (2021). Neuroscience and consumer behavior: Where to now?, Frontiers in Psychology», 12, 705850.
  2. Balconi, M., Venturella, I., Sebastiani, R., Angioletti, L. (2021) Touching to feel: brain activity during in-store consumer experience, Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 653011.
  3. Colautti, L., Iannello, P., Silveri, M. C., & Antonietti, A. (2021). Decision making in Parkinson’s Disease: An analysis of the studies using the Iowa Gambling Task. European Journal of Neuroscience, 54, 7513-7549
  4. Fronda, G., Cassioli, F., Sebastiani, R., Galeone, A.B., Balconi, M. (2021). Paint it green: a neuroscientific approach to hotel sustainability and ecological tourism, Environment, Development and Sustainability, 23, pages 15513–15528.

 

ECONOMIC AND FISCAL POLICIES

YEAR 2022

  1. Bertolotti, M., Valla, L., & Catellani, P. (2022). “If it weren’t for COVID-19…”: Counterfactual arguments influence support for climate change policies via cross-domain moral licensing or moral consistency effects. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 103389.
  2. Castiglioni C., Sesini G., Graffigna G., Lozza E. (2022). Willingness to Financially Support the Healthcare System: Evidence from Two Experimental Studies during COVID-19 in Italy. LPAD-International Journal of Public Administration, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01900692.2022.2111577
  3. Pozzi, M., Pistoni, C., Ripamonti, S.C., De Leo, A. (2022). Generation and Gender Differences in Family Businesses: A New Psychological Perspective. Journal of Family and Economic Issues. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10834-022-09881-w
  4. Romagnoli L., Castiglioni C., Lozza E. (2022). Promuovere la tax compliance: uno studio etnografico sull’interazione tra funzionario e professionista fiscale nel corso del contraddittorio in Agenzia delle Entrate. Psicologia Sociale, 17 (1), 53-78

 

YEAR 2021

  1. Bertolotti, M. & Catellani, P. (2021). Going green, but staying in the black: Framing effects in communication on the economic impact of environmental policies. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 624001.
  2. Bertolotti, M., Catellani, P., & Nelson, T. (2021). Framing messages on the economic impact of climate change policies: Effects on climate believers and climate skeptics. Environmental Communication, 15, 715-730.
  3. Castiglioni, C., & Lozza, E. (2021). The Economic Psychology of Tax Compliance and Charitable Giving: A Comparative Analysis and Research Agenda. Psychological Research Journal-OA 44 (3), 1-50

 

Department of Psychology

Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore

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