Jan K. Woike

Jan K. Woike is a Visiting Researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, specializing in adaptive rationality, heuristics, and decision-making. His research spans behavioral economics, social learning, and evolutionary computation, with a focus on understanding human inference and policy capturing.

• 2008: PhD in Psychology, Bochum University
• 2001: Diploma in Psychology, Bochum University
• 1997-1998: Special Student, Harvard University

Woike's research explores heuristics in uncertain environments, destructive competition in groups, and privacy in Big Data. He employs computer simulations, online tools, and evolutionary models to analyze decision-making in economic contexts and social dynamics.

His publications examine topics such as relative performance feedback in group competition, crowdsourcing hypothesis testing, and equal weighting in venture capital decisions. These works bridge psychology, behavioral economics, and computational modeling.

Woike has held postdoctoral roles at the University of Basel (2011-2012), University of Lausanne (2007-2012), and Erfurt University (2005-2007). He has also taught courses in business statistics, psychological diagnostics, and negotiation at institutions including Arizona State University and Bochum University.

His interdisciplinary methods include evolutionary computation and interactive group research tools, contributing to the Adaptive Rationality Research Team's mission to understand how humans navigate uncertainty.