Renata Heilman

Verified @psychology.ro

Department of Psychology
Babes-Bolyai University



              

https://researchid.co/renataheilman

EDUCATION

2011 Ph.D. in Psychology, Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Thesis title: Individual differences in emotion and decision. Supervisor: Professor Mircea Miclea, Ph.D.
2008 Honours Masters of Science in Clinical Psychology, Counseling and Psychotherapy, Department of Psychology, Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca. Thesis title: Developmental and sex-related differences in preschoolers’ affective decision-making. Co-Supervisors: Associate Professor Oana Benga, Ph.D., Professor Mircea Miclea, Ph.D.
2006 Honours Bachelor of Science, Department of Psychology, Babes-Bolyai University. Thesis title: The effects of trait-anxiety, anxiety-neuroticism and sensation seeking on decision making in the ultimatum game and the Iowa gambling task. Supervisor: Professor Adrian Opre, Ph.D.

20

Scopus Publications

2114

Scholar Citations

15

Scholar h-index

19

Scholar i10-index

Scopus Publications

  • Expectations and social decision making: An investigation of gain and loss ultimatum games
    Renata M. Heilman, Alexandru Ursu, Sabina R. Trif, Petko Kusev, Rose Martin, and Joseph Teal
    Elsevier BV

  • Participants’ Utilitarian Choice Is Influenced by Gamble Presentation and Age
    Joseph Teal, Petko Kusev, Siana Vukadinova, Rose Martin, and Renata M. Heilman
    MDPI AG
    No prior behavioral science research has delved into the impact of gamble presentation (horizontal or vertical) on individuals’ utilitarian behavior, despite evidence suggesting that such choices can be influenced by comparing attributes like probability and money in gambles. This article addresses this gap by exploring the influence of gamble presentation on utilitarian behavior. A two-factor independent measures design was employed to explore the influence of the type of gamble presentation and age on participants’ utilitarian decision-making preferences. The findings showed a reduced likelihood of participants choosing the non-utilitarian gamble with vertically presented gambles compared to horizontal ones. Consequently, participants’ utilitarian behavior was influenced by between-gamble comparisons of available attributes, with utilitarian choices (e.g., choosing Gamble A) being more prevalent in vertical presentations due to a straightforward comparison on the probability attribute. Furthermore, the results also revealed that older participants take more time than their younger counterparts when making utilitarian errors. We attribute this to their abundant knowledge and experience. Future research should explore the comparative psychological processing used by participants in risky decision-making tasks.

  • On the Relationship Between Valence and Arousal in Samples Across the Globe
    Michelle Yik, Chiel Mues, Irene N. L. Sze, Peter Kuppens, Francis Tuerlinckx, Kim De Roover, Felity H. C. Kwok, Shalom H. Schwartz, Maher Abu-Hilal, Damilola Fisayo Adebayo,et al.
    American Psychological Association (APA)

  • Problem gambling ‘fuelled on the fly’
    Joseph Teal, Petko Kusev, Renata Heilman, Rose Martin, Alessia Passanisi, and Ugo Pace
    MDPI AG
    Problem gambling is a gambling disorder often described as continued gambling in the face of increasing losses. In this article, we explored problem gambling behaviour and its psychological determinants. We considered the assumption of stability in risky preferences, anticipated by both normative and descriptive theories of decision making, as well as recent evidence that risk preferences are in fact ‘constructed on the fly’ during risk elicitation. Accordingly, we argue that problem gambling is a multifaceted disorder, which is ‘fueled on the fly’ by a wide range of contextual and non-contextual influences, including individual differences in personality traits, hormonal and emotional activations. We have proposed that the experience of gambling behaviour in itself is a dynamic experience of events in time series, where gamblers anchor on the most recent event—typically a small loss or rare win. This is a highly adaptive, but erroneous, decision-making mechanism, where anchoring on the most recent event alters the psychological representations of substantial and accumulated loss in the past to a representation of negligible loss. In other words, people feel better while they gamble. We conclude that problem gambling researchers and policy makers will need to employ multifaceted and holistic approaches to understand problem gambling.

  • Are impulsive decisions always irrational? An experimental investigation of impulsive decisions in the domains of gains and losses
    Renata M. Heilman, Petko Kusev, Mircea Miclea, Joseph Teal, Rose Martin, Alessia Passanisi, and Ugo Pace
    MDPI AG
    Intertemporal choices are very prevalent in daily life, ranging from simple, mundane decisions to highly consequential decisions. In this context, thinking about the future and making sound decisions are crucial to promoting mental and physical health, as well as a financially sustainable lifestyle. In the present study, we set out to investigate some of the possible underlying mechanisms, such as cognitive factors and emotional states, that promote future-oriented decisions. In a cross-sectional experimental study, we used a gain and a loss version of an intertemporal monetary choices task. Our main behavioural result indicated that people are substantially more impulsive over smaller and sooner monetary losses compared to equivalent gains. In addition, for both decisional domains, significant individual difference predictors emerged, indicating that intertemporal choices are sensitive to the affective and cognitive parameters. By focusing on the cognitive and emotional individual factors that influence impulsive decisions, our study could constitute a building block for successful future intervention programs targeted at mental and physical health issues, including gambling behaviour.

  • A creative destruction approach to replication: Implicit work and sex morality across cultures
    Warren Tierney, Jay Hardy, Charles R. Ebersole, Domenico Viganola, Elena Giulia Clemente, Michael Gordon, Suzanne Hoogeveen, Julia Haaf, Anna Dreber, Magnus Johannesson,et al.
    Elsevier BV

  • Personal Values Associated with Prosocial Decisions
    Renata M. Heilman and Petko Kusev
    MDPI AG
    Social situations require people to make complex decisions, sometimes involving different outcomes for the self and others. Considering the long-lasting interest scholars are showing in the topic of social decisions, the aim of the current article is to add to this research line by looking at personal values as possible factors associated with a preference for more self-maximizing or cooperative choices. In a general adult sample (N = 63), we used the Social Value Orientation (SVO) slider measure to investigate participants’ tendency towards prosocial or proself outcomes. We also administered a personal values questionnaire, measuring 19 basic values, organized in 4 higher-order values. Building on the theory of basic individual values, we expected self-transcendence to be positively associated with more prosocial orientations. Our main result confirmed that self-transcendence was positively correlated with SVO whereas no other higher-order values were associated with SVO. Our data also revealed that inequality aversion was the primary motivation of prosocials, and this result was unrelated to gender effects or the personal values under investigation.

  • A new look at the ultimatum game: Relational and individual differences underlying the division of gains and losses


  • The gender pay gap: Can behavioral economics provide useful insights?
    Renata M. Heilman and Petko Kusev
    Frontiers Media SA
    People are faced with numerous decisions every day. Whether we must choose our outfit for the day, which cell phone brand to buy, what college to attend, to buy a car or house insurance, or even when or to whom to get married, decisions are a permanent presence in our daily activities. Behavioral economics is a multi-disciplinary field of study investigating how people make judgments and decisions (Camerer and Loewenstein, 2004; Heilman, 2014). Even though, from a historic point of view, behavioral economics is considered to be a relatively young field of research, the large number of studies that were undertaken and their theoretical and practical implications have made the field of behavioral economics increasingly visible among scholars. More importantly, they have also facilitated contexts to transform behavioral results into social policy programs. Starting in 2010, the UK government launched the Behavioral Insights Team, also known as The Nudge Unit, which was then followed by the Social and Behavioral Sciences Team (SBST), established by the Obama administration in 2014. Both teams aim to apply behavioral sciences, including behavioral economics, in governmental programs in order to increase people's quality of life at lower costs. The efforts of the Nudge Unit and the SBST or other agencies and individual researchers who are trying to improve people's overall quality of life should be supported by the research community through relevant scientific projects and by constantly finding new ways to capitalize research derived knowledge for the general use of a community.

  • Understanding risky behavior: The influence of cognitive, emotional and hormonal factors on decision-making under risk
    Petko Kusev, Harry Purser, Renata Heilman, Alex J. Cooke, Paul Van Schaik, Victoria Baranova, Rose Martin, and Peter Ayton
    Frontiers Media SA
    Financial risky decisions and evaluations pervade many human everyday activities. Scientific research in such decision-making typically explores the influence of socio-economic and cognitive factors on financial behavior. However, very little research has explored the holistic influence of contextual, emotional, and hormonal factors on preferences for risk in insurance and investment behaviors. Accordingly, the goal of this review article is to address the complexity of individual risky behavior and its underlying psychological factors, as well as to critically examine current regulations on financial behavior.

  • Effect of regulating anger and sadness on decision-making
    Paul Lucian Szasz, Stefan G. Hofmann, Renata M. Heilman, and Joshua Curtiss
    Informa UK Limited
    Abstract The aim of the current study was to investigate the effects of reappraisal, acceptance, and rumination for regulating anger and sadness on decision-making. Participants (N = 165) were asked to recall two autobiographical events in which they felt intense anger and sadness, respectively. Participants were then instructed to reappraise, accept, ruminate, or not use any strategies to regulate their feelings of anger and sadness. Following this manipulation, risk aversion, and decision-making strategies were measured using a computer-based measure of risk-taking and a simulated real-life decision-making task. Participants who were instructed to reappraise their emotions showed the least anger and sadness, the most adaptive decision-making strategies, but the least risk aversion as compared to the participants in the other conditions. These findings suggest that emotion regulation strategies of negative affective states have an immediate effect on decision-making and risk-taking behaviors.

  • The contributions of declarative knowledge and emotion regulation in the Iowa gambling task


  • Emotion Regulation and Decision Making Under Risk and Uncertainty
    Renata M. Heilman, Liviu G. Crişan, Daniel Houser, Mircea Miclea, and Andrei C. Miu
    American Psychological Association (APA)
    It is well established that emotion plays a key role in human social and economic decision making. The recent literature on emotion regulation (ER), however, highlights that humans typically make efforts to control emotion experiences. This leaves open the possibility that decision effects previously attributed to acute emotion may be a consequence of acute ER strategies such as cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression. In Study 1, we manipulated ER of laboratory-induced fear and disgust, and found that the cognitive reappraisal of these negative emotions promotes risky decisions (reduces risk aversion) in the Balloon Analogue Risk Task and is associated with increased performance in the prehunch/hunch period of the Iowa Gambling Task. In Study 2, we found that naturally occurring negative emotions also increase risk aversion in Balloon Analogue Risk Task, but the incidental use of cognitive reappraisal of emotions impedes this effect. We offer evidence that the increased effectiveness of cognitive reappraisal in reducing the experience of emotions underlies its beneficial effects on decision making.

  • Genetic contributions of the serotonin transporter to social learning of fear and economic decision making
    Liviu G. Crişan, Simona Pană, Romana Vulturar, Renata M. Heilman, Raluca Szekely, Bogdan Drugă, Nicolae Dragoş, and Andrei C. Miu
    Oxford University Press (OUP)
    Serotonin (5-HT) modulates emotional and cognitive functions such as fear conditioning (FC) and decision making. This study investigated the effects of a functional polymorphism in the regulatory region (5-HTTLPR) of the human 5-HT transporter (5-HTT) gene on observational FC, risk taking and susceptibility to framing in decision making under uncertainty, as well as multidimensional anxiety and autonomic control of the heart in healthy volunteers. The present results indicate that in comparison to the homozygotes for the long (l) version of 5-HTTLPR, the carriers of the short (s) version display enhanced observational FC, reduced financial risk taking and increased susceptibility to framing in economic decision making. We also found that s-carriers have increased trait anxiety due to threat in social evaluation, and ambiguous threat perception. In addition, s-carriers also show reduced autonomic control over the heart, and a pattern of reduced vagal tone and increased sympathetic activity in comparison to l-homozygotes. This is the first genetic study that identifies the association of a functional polymorphism in a key neurotransmitter-related gene with complex social-emotional and cognitive processes. The present set of results suggests an endophenotype of anxiety disorders, characterized by enhanced social learning of fear, impaired decision making and dysfunctional autonomic activity.


  • Developmental and sex-related differences in preschoolers' affective decision making
    Renata M. Heilman, Andrei C. Miu, and Oana Benga
    Informa UK Limited
    This study investigated developmental and sex-related differences in affective decision making, using a two-deck version of Children's Gambling Task administered to 3- and 4-year-old children. The main findings were that 4-year-old children displayed better decision-making performance than 3-year-olds. This effect was independent of developmental changes in inductive reasoning, language, and working memory. There were also sex differences in decision-making performance, which were apparent only in 3-year-old children and favored girls. Moreover, age predicted awareness of task and the correlation between the latter and decision-making performance was significant, but only in 4-year-old children. This study thus indicates that there is a remarkable developmental leap in affective decision making, whose effects are apparent around the age of 4, which according to our results, also marks the age when the correlation of declarative knowledge and decision-making performance becomes significant.

  • Anxiety impairs decision-making: Psychophysiological evidence from an Iowa Gambling Task
    Andrei C. Miu, Renata M. Heilman, and Daniel Houser
    Elsevier BV

  • Behavioral effects of corpus callosum transection and environmental enrichment in adult rats
    Andrei C. Miu, Renata M. Heilman, Sergiu P. Paşca, Catrinel A. Ştefan, Florina Spânu, Renata Vasiu, Adrian I. Olteanu, and Mircea Miclea
    Elsevier BV

  • Emotion-induced retrograde amnesia and trait anxiety
    Andrei C. Miu, Renata M. Heilman, Adrian Opre, and Mircea Miclea
    American Psychological Association (APA)
    Emotional arousal can both enhance and impair memory. Considering that both emotional memory and trait anxiety (TA) have been associated with adrenergic activity, the authors investigated whether there is an association between 2 opposite emotional memory biases and the TA. The authors used a procedure recently put forward by B. A. Strange, R. Hurlemann, and R. J. Dolan (2003) to elicit an emotion-induced retrograde amnesia (ERA) coupled to an emotional memory enhancement (EME). The authors contrasted the association between these emotional memory biases and the TA in several conditions involving different levels of encoding and types of recall. The results presented here indicated a significant interaction of the TA with EME and ERA and the dependency of these biases on the consciously controlled use of memory.


RECENT SCHOLAR PUBLICATIONS

  • Expectations and social decision making: An investigation of gain and loss ultimatum games
    RM Heilman, A Ursu, SR Trif, P Kusev, R Martin, J Teal
    Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics 114, 102313 2025

  • Participants’ Utilitarian Choice Is Influenced by Gamble Presentation and Age
    J Teal, P Kusev, S Vukadinova, R Martin, RM Heilman
    Behavioral sciences 14 (7), 536 2024

  • On the relationship between valence and arousal in samples across the globe.
    M Yik, C Mues, INL Sze, P Kuppens, F Tuerlinckx, K De Roover, ...
    Emotion 23 (2), 332 2023

  • Problem gambling ‘fuelled on the fly’
    J Teal, P Kusev, R Heilman, R Martin, A Passanisi, U Pace
    International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 18 (16), 8607 2021

  • Are impulsive decisions always irrational? An experimental investigation of impulsive decisions in the domains of gains and losses
    RM Heilman, P Kusev, M Miclea, J Teal, R Martin, A Passanisi, U Pace
    International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 18 (16), 8518 2021

  • A creative destruction approach to replication: Implicit work and sex morality across cultures

    Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 93, 1-18 2021

  • Personal values associated with prosocial decisions
    RM Heilman, P Kusev
    Behavioral Sciences 10 (4), 77 2020

  • Psychological Engagement in Choice and Judgment Under Risk and Uncertainty
    M Buontempo, P Kusev, V Baranova, R Heilman
    58th annual meeting of the Psychonomic Society 23, 311-311 2018

  • A new look at the Ultimatum Game: relational and individual differences underlying the division of gains and losses
    RM Heilman
    Behavioral Economics: Trends, Perspectives and Challenges 2018

  • The gender pay gap: can behavioral economics provide useful insights?
    RM Heilman, P Kusev
    Frontiers in psychology 8, 95 2017

  • Understanding risky behavior: The influence of cognitive, emotional and hormonal factors on decision-making under risk
    P Kusev, H Purser, R Heilman, AJ Cooke, P Van Schaik, V Baranova, ...
    Frontiers in psychology 8, 102 2017

  • Effect of regulating anger and sadness on decision-making
    PL Szasz, SG Hofmann, RM Heilman, J Curtiss
    Cognitive Behaviour Therapy 45 (6), 479-495 2016

  • Risk seeking preferences: an investigation of framing effects across decisional domains.
    RM Heilman, M Miclea
    Cognitie, Creier, Comportament/Cognition, Brain, Behavior 20 (1) 2016

  • Emotion regulation and economic decision-making
    RM Heilman, AC Miu, D Houser
    Neuroeconomics, 113-131 2016

  • The contributions of declarative knowledge and emotion regulation in the Iowa Gambling Task.
    RM Heilman, M Miclea
    Cognitie, Creier, Comportament/Cognition, Brain, Behavior 19 (1) 2015

  • Diferențe individuale n emoție și decizie. Implicații pentru psihologia economică.
    RM Heilman
    Editura Asociaţiei de Ştiinţe Cognitive din Romnia (ASCR), Cluj-Napoca 2014

  • Emotions and preferences: risky choices and retrospective frequency judgments.
    R Heilman, P Kusev, P van Schaik
    Poster presented at the 34th Annual Conference of the Society for Judgment 2013

  • Advances in computer-based psychotherapy of anxiety disorders.
    RM Heilman, E Kallay, M Miclea
    The computer-mediated therapy of anxiety, 46-67 2011

  • The role of computer-based psychotherapy in the treatment of anxiety disorders
    RM Heilman, Kllay, M Miclea
    Cognition, Brain, Behavior 14 (3), 209 2010

  • Emotion regulation and decision making under risk and uncertainty.
    RM Heilman, LG Crişan, D Houser, M Miclea, AC Miu
    Emotion 10 (2), 257 2010

MOST CITED SCHOLAR PUBLICATIONS

  • Emotion regulation and decision making under risk and uncertainty.
    RM Heilman, LG Crişan, D Houser, M Miclea, AC Miu
    Emotion 10 (2), 257 2010
    Citations: 584

  • Anxiety impairs decision-making: Psychophysiological evidence from an Iowa Gambling Task
    AC Miu, RM Heilman, D Houser
    Biological psychology 77 (3), 353-358 2008
    Citations: 440

  • Reduced heart rate variability and vagal tone in anxiety: trait versus state, and the effects of autogenic training
    AC Miu, RM Heilman, M Miclea
    Autonomic Neuroscience 145 (1-2), 99-103 2009
    Citations: 346

  • Genetic contributions of the serotonin transporter to social learning of fear and economic decision making
    LG Crişan, S Pană, R Vulturar, RM Heilman, R Szekely, B Drugă, ...
    Social cognitive and affective neuroscience 4 (4), 399-408 2009
    Citations: 199

  • Understanding risky behavior: The influence of cognitive, emotional and hormonal factors on decision-making under risk
    P Kusev, H Purser, R Heilman, AJ Cooke, P Van Schaik, V Baranova, ...
    Frontiers in psychology 8, 102 2017
    Citations: 141

  • Effect of regulating anger and sadness on decision-making
    PL Szasz, SG Hofmann, RM Heilman, J Curtiss
    Cognitive Behaviour Therapy 45 (6), 479-495 2016
    Citations: 58

  • A creative destruction approach to replication: Implicit work and sex morality across cultures

    Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 93, 1-18 2021
    Citations: 51

  • On the relationship between valence and arousal in samples across the globe.
    M Yik, C Mues, INL Sze, P Kuppens, F Tuerlinckx, K De Roover, ...
    Emotion 23 (2), 332 2023
    Citations: 44

  • Emotion-induced retrograde amnesia and trait anxiety.
    AC Miu, RM Heilman, A Opre, M Miclea
    Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 31 (6), 1250 2005
    Citations: 36

  • Developmental and sex-related differences in preschoolers' affective decision making
    RM Heilman, AC Miu, O Benga
    Child Neuropsychology 15 (1), 73-84 2008
    Citations: 32

  • Personal values associated with prosocial decisions
    RM Heilman, P Kusev
    Behavioral Sciences 10 (4), 77 2020
    Citations: 31

  • Emotion regulation and economic decision-making
    RM Heilman, AC Miu, D Houser
    Neuroeconomics, 113-131 2016
    Citations: 28

  • The gender pay gap: can behavioral economics provide useful insights?
    RM Heilman, P Kusev
    Frontiers in psychology 8, 95 2017
    Citations: 21

  • Behavioral effects of corpus callosum transection and environmental enrichment in adult rats
    AC Miu, RM Heilman, SP Paşca, CA Ştefan, F Spnu, R Vasiu, AI Olteanu, ...
    Behavioural brain research 172 (1), 135-144 2006
    Citations: 20

  • Risk seeking preferences: an investigation of framing effects across decisional domains.
    RM Heilman, M Miclea
    Cognitie, Creier, Comportament/Cognition, Brain, Behavior 20 (1) 2016
    Citations: 15

  • The contributions of declarative knowledge and emotion regulation in the Iowa Gambling Task.
    RM Heilman, M Miclea
    Cognitie, Creier, Comportament/Cognition, Brain, Behavior 19 (1) 2015
    Citations: 13

  • Have no fear, erythropoietin is here: erythropoietin protects fear conditioning performances after functional inactivation of the amygdala
    AC Miu, AI Olteanu, I Chiş, RM Heilman
    Behavioural brain research 155 (2), 223-229 2004
    Citations: 13

  • Problem gambling ‘fuelled on the fly’
    J Teal, P Kusev, R Heilman, R Martin, A Passanisi, U Pace
    International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 18 (16), 8607 2021
    Citations: 11

  • The role of computer-based psychotherapy in the treatment of anxiety disorders
    RM Heilman, Kllay, M Miclea
    Cognition, Brain, Behavior 14 (3), 209 2010
    Citations: 10

  • A new look at the Ultimatum Game: relational and individual differences underlying the division of gains and losses
    RM Heilman
    Behavioral Economics: Trends, Perspectives and Challenges 2018
    Citations: 7

GRANT DETAILS

2018-2020 , The dual nature of fairness: relational and individual differences underlying the division of gains and losses (principal investigator)
2016-2017 GTC-31794-2016, Developing new connections between theory and practice: applications of economic psychology in resource allocation decisions in organizational settings, Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj Napoca, Romania (principal investigator)
2015-2017 PN-II-RU-TE-2014-4-2111, Social networks and emotions: Implications for the rationality of entrepreneurship strategic decisions. PI: Dr. Oana Fodor (grant team member)
2011-2012 POSDRU/90/2.1/S/63100, Artistic training – the transition of the young artist towards employment (Vocational Counselor).
2008-2011 CNCSIS 2440/2008, Critical factors involved in computer-based psychotherapy of anxiety disorders. PI: Dr. Mircea Miclea (grant team member).
2008-2011 Ph.D. student fellowship, offered by National University Research Council of Romania.
2008-2008 CEEX, ANCS: A neurocognitive and developmental analysis of anxiety: Applications for diagnostics and therapy. PI: Dr. Mircea Miclea (grant team member).