Faculty
Wändi Bruine de Bruin
Provost Professor of Public Policy, Psychology, and Behavioral Science
Director, Behavioral Science and Policy Initiative, USC Schaeffer Institute
Director of Research, Center for Civic Society, USC Schaeffer Institute
Programs
Education
PhD Behavioral Decision Research and Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University
Expertise
Psychology of risk
Public perceptions of climate change and health
Economic expectations
Communicating effectively across the political aisle
Social context of voting
Psychology of aging
Biography
Wändi Bruine de Bruin is Provost Professor of Public Policy, Psychology, and Behavioral Science at the Sol Price School of Public Policy at the University of Southern California (USC). At the Schaeffer Institute, she also serves as director of research for the Center for Civic Society and as director for the Behavioral Science and Policy Initiative.
Her research aims to understand and inform public perceptions about climate change, health, and the economy, for audiences across the political aisle. She has published nearly 200 peer-reviewed publications on these topics, across top journals in multiple disciplines. She is currently an editorial board member for Perspectives on Psychological Science, the Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, Decision, Medical Decision Making, the Journal of Risk Research, and Psychology and Aging. She served on the National Academy of Sciences committee on Communicating Science Effectively, the National Academy of Sciences committee on Respiratory Protection for the Public and Workers without Respiratory Protection Programs at their Workplaces. and the Council of the Canadian Academies committee on Health Product Risk Communication. She is a Fellow of the Society for Risk Analysis, the Psychonomic Society and the UK Academy of Social Sciences.
She received her PhD in Behavioral Decision Research and Psychology from Carnegie Mellon University. She also holds an MSc in Cognitive Psychology and a BSc in Psychology from the Free University Amsterdam.
Selected publications
- Hodson, N., Onyeaso, O. O., Mills, S., Bruine de Bruin, W., et al. (2025). Evaluating adherence to patient registration paperwork guidelines: a mystery shopper study in English primary care. BMJ Open, 15:e100719. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2025-100719
- Bruine de Bruin, W., Chin, A., Zimmerman, D., & van der Klaauw, W. (2025). Everything in its own time: Planning Horizons vary across financial domains. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 38(4).
- Inwald, J. F., Bruine de Bruin, W., & Yaggi, M. (2025). Disaster preparedness and perceptions of people who experienced water insecurity: Insights from the Lloyd’s Register Foundation’s World Risk Poll. Environmental Science & Technology, 59(32), 16889–16899.
In The News
USC Price News
Study: Lack of clean drinking water linked to increased food insecurity
Featured Faculty: Wändi Bruine de Bruin
LibertyStreetEconomics.org
Bruine de Bruin and colleagues’ essay examines how businesses decide whether to raise prices amid inflation and tariff policies
Featured Faculty: Wändi Bruine de Bruin
Affiliated Research Centers
Schaeffer Institute for Public Policy & Government Service
Kudos
August 28, 2025 Wändi Bruine de Bruin, Provost Professor of Public Policy, Psychology, and Behavioral Science, named to the new consortium looking at how to improve power distribution.