Rafael Batista is a postdoctoral research fellow at Johns Hopkins Carey Business School. His research examines how AI shapes the way people think about and experience the world, influencing the beliefs they form and the decisions they make. He also studies financial decision-making, particularly the psychology behind how people spend, save, and borrow.
Rafael was previously a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Princeton University's Kahneman-Treisman Center for Behavioral Science & Public Policy. Before his PhD, he co-founded the Behavioral Science Team at Commonwealth Bank of Australia and conducted field experiments across East Africa with the Busara Center for Behavioral Economics. He continues to work with organizations and is currently consulting for UNICEF on behavioral data science. Additional information about his research can be found on rafaelmbatista.com.
Education
- PhD, Behavioral Science, University of Chicago Booth School of Business
- MBA, University of Chicago Booth School of Business
- MS, Behavioral & Economic Science, University of Warwick
- BS, Psychology, Florida State University
- BA, International Affairs, Florida State University
RESEARCH
- Batista, Rafael M., Abigail B. Sussman, and Jennifer Trueblood (2023) “Self-other differences in perceptions of wealth”, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
Working Papers
- Batista, Rafael M. and James Ross (2024) “Words that work: Using large language models to generate and refine hypotheses”
- Batista, Rafael M., Ella Mao, and Abigail B. Sussman (2025). “Keeping cash and revolving debt: How consumers' preference for spending on debit versus credit influences their decision to co-hold"
- Batista, Rafael M. and Tom Griffiths (2026) “A Rational Analysis of the Effects of Sycophantic AI”