Professor of Psychology, University of Oklahoma, USA
Dodge Family College of Arts and Sciences
Vita
Dr. Cokely serves as Presidential Research Professor and Professor of Psychology at the University of Oklahoma. He specializes in cognitive abilities and decision making, mentoring graduate students in the Cognitive Psychology Ph.D. Program. Dr. Cokely is recognized as a leading expert on Risk Literacy (i.e., the ability to evaluate and understand risk) and related applications including risk communications, cognitive assessments, and training programs. He has co-authored nearly 100 academic papers and one book (Diversity and Disagreement; Feltz & Cokely, 2024), helping secure millions of dollars in funding for research, outreach, and student support (e.g., NSF, NAS, NOAA, Templeton, MedScape). He has received 20+ research and teaching honors including premier awards for “major contributions to the sciences of mind, brain, and behavior” and for “improving our understanding of the needs and processes of diverse decision makers in more than 50 countries” (e.g., FABBS 2017 Early Career Impact Award; NSF 2013 early CAREER award). He is a member of the editorial board of APA’s DECISION (2024-current), former board member for APA’s Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied (2017-2018), and former associate editor of SJDM’s Judgment and Decision Making (2014-2020). His research has been featured in Scientific American, New Scientist Magazine, Chronicle of Higher Education, BBC Futures, and New York Times and Wall Street Journal Online, among others.
Research Interests
- Risk Literacy and Decision Psychology
- Heuristics, Biases, and Cognitive Abilities (e.g., Numeracy, Intelligence, Expertise)
- Skill Acquisition and Cognitive Training
- Risk Communication and Ethical Choice Architecture
- Human Factors, Engineering Psychology, and User Experience (UX)
Selected Publication
Cho, J., Cokely, E. T., Ramasubramanian, M., Allan, J. N., Feltz, A., & Garcia-Retamero, R. (2023). Numeracy does not polarize climate change judgments: Numerate people are more knowledgeable and knowledge is power. Decision.
Petrova, D., Cokely, E. T., Sobkow, A., Traczyk, J., Garrido, D., & Garcia‐Retamero, R. (2023). Measuring feelings about choices and risks: The Berlin emotional responses to risk instrument (BERRI). Risk Analysis, 43(4), 724-746.
Cho, J., Ulm, C., & Cokely, E. (2023). Risk Literacy is Associated with Reduced Belief Bias in Medical Risk Evaluations: Evidence from Structural Modeling of Cognitive Abilities and Process Tracing. In Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society (Vol. 45, No. 45).
Garrido, D., Petrova, D., Cokely, E., Carballo, G., & Garcia-Retamero, R. (2021). Parental risk literacy is related to quality of life in spanish families of children with autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 51(7), 2475-2484.
Garcia-Retamero, R., Petrova, D., Cokely, E. T., & Joeris, A. (2020). Scientific risk reporting in medical journals can bias expert judgment: Comparing surgeons’ risk comprehension across reporting formats. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 26(2), 283.