Ralph Hertwig | Publications

Fulawka, K., Hertwig, R., & Wulff, D. U. (in press). Large language models accurately identify decision reasons in verbal reports. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

Gollwitzer, A., Tump, A. N., Martel, C., Deffner, D., Sultan, M., Kurvers, R. H. J. M., & Hertwig, R. (2026). Toward a mechanistic understanding of false news sharing: Which interventions work best, for whom, and why. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 155(6), 1550–1574. https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0001928

Hechtlinger, S., Schulze, C., Leuker, C., & Hertwig, R. (2026). The psychology of life's most important decisions. American Psychologist, 81(2), 157–183. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0001439

Offer, K., Rahwan, Z., & Hertwig, R. (2026). Foucault’s error: The power of not knowing. European Review of Social Psychology, 37(1), 130–165. https://doi.org/10.1080/10463283.2024.2383085

Oswald, L., Kozyreva, A., Nickl, P. L., Herzog, S. M., & Hertwig, R. (in press). Boosting media literacy using lateral reading and online search interventions. Psychological Science.

Tiede, K. E., Hertwig, R., Mata, R., & Wulff, D. U. (2026). Communicating risks more comprehensively using simulated experience. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 30(3), 200–202. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2025.12.004

Wegwarth, O., & Hertwig, R. (2026). Short report: Association between self-reported COVID-19 experience and contemptuous beliefs about pandemic management among German citizens and healthcare professionals. Journal of Public Health, 48(1), 332–337. https://doi.org/10.1093/pubmed/fdaf144

Woike, J. K., Hafenbrädl, S., Kanngiesser, P., & Hertwig, R. (2026). Partisan differences in risk-taking in a simulated pandemic. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 39(2), Article e70066. https://doi.org/10.1002/bdm.70066

Claassen, M. A., Mata, J., & Hertwig, R. (2025). The (mis-)measurement of food decisions. Appetite, 209, Article 107928. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2025.107928

Fraemke, D., Willems, Y. E., Okbay, A., Lindenberger, U., Zinn, S., Wagner, G., Richter, D., Harden, K. P., Tucker-Drob, E. M., Hertwig, R., Koellinger, P., & Raffington, L. (2025). Polygenic associations with educational attainment in East versus West Germany: Differences emerge after reunification. Psychological Science, 36(7), 559–573. https://doi.org/10.1177/09567976251350965

Haux, L. M., Engelmann, J. M., Herrmann, E., & Hertwig, R. (2025). Chimpanzees adapt their exploration to key properties of the environment. Nature Communications, 16, Article 1807. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-57022-2

Hertwig, R., & Lewandowsky, S. (2025). How citizens' experience of democracy can actually pave the way to democratic backsliding. Communications Psychology, 3, Article 144. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44271-025-00327-1

Hertwig, R., Michie, S., Reicher, S., & West, R. (2025). A reply to Luc Bovens: Ethics and impact of boosting and nudging. Behavioural Public Policy, 9(4), 894–897. https://doi.org/10.1017/bpp.2025.8

Hertwig, R., Michie, S., West, R., & Reicher, S. (2025). Moving from nudging to boosting: Empowering behaviour change to address global challenges. Behavioural Public Policy, 9(4), 874–885. https://doi.org/10.1017/bpp.2025.9

Herzog, S. M., & Hertwig, R. (2025). Boosting: Empowering citizens with behavioral science. Annual Review of Psychology, 76, 851–881. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-020924-124753

Hintze, A., Bisht, C., Schossau, J., & Hertwig, R. (2025). Nonlinear transformation of probabilities by large language models. Computers in Human Behavior: Artificial Humans, 6, Article 100227. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chbah.2025.100227

Hofmann, W., Betsch, C., Böhm, R., de Ridder, D., Drews, S., Ewert, B., Hertwig, R., Sniehotta, F. F., & Mata, J. (2025). Rethinking behaviour change interventions in policymaking. Nature Human Behaviour, 9, 1765–1767. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-025-02284-5

Kerbl, L., Rahwan, Z., Hertwig, R., & Ciranka, S. (2025). More than incurious: The development of deliberate ignorance. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 29(12), 1083–1085. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2025.09.015

Lewandowsky, S., & Hertwig, R. (2025). Critical ignoring when information abundance is detrimental to democracy. Current Opinion in Psychology, 66, Article 102128. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2025.102128

Offer, K., Oglanova, N., Oswald, L., & Hertwig, R. (2025). Prevalence and predictors of medical information avoidance: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 59(1), Article kaaf058. https://doi.org/10.1093/abm/kaaf058