Welcome to my webpage. I am professor of choice behavior modeling, and head of the Engineering Systems & Services (ESS) department, whose 120+ scholars study and design transport, energy and information systems as well as their integration, by combing insights from engineering, the social sciences and humanities.

Summary of my research and teaching profile (a CV can be found here):

“Life is a series of choices, great and small.”

Choice behavior models provide a mathematically rigorous and empirically testable understanding of the choices people make. This opens the door towards quantifiable insights and predictions concerning human choice behavior in application domains as diverse as transport, energy, health, sociology, and marketing. Intriguingly, because they are so rigorously formalized, choice models also offer the potential to equip artificial intelligence with ‘human-inspired’ decision systems.

As a professor of choice behavior modeling, my research aim is to develop and empirically validate models of human decision-making that combine high levels of behavioral realism and mathematical tractability. In recent years, funded by highly competitive Veni (2010) and Vidi (2012) grants from the Netherlands science foundation NWO, my co-workers and I have developed choice models based on bounded rationality, including the now widely used random regret minimization model suite.

Most of my current work is focused on designing moral choice models, which capture the heuristics and trade-offs that humans employ in morally sensitive situations. This work is funded by means of an ERC-Consolidator grant (2016); it should ultimately lead to a better and more formal understanding of moral decision making and –using agent based models– of the emergence of moral norms in society. Ultimately, the results obtained in this program enable the design of a human-inspired ‘moral compass’ for artificial intelligence-systems. See behave.tbm.tudelft.nl for more information about this research program, which is executed by a team of researchers with backgrounds ranging from philosophy to econometrics, and socio-physics.

Much of my work finds its application domain in transport and adjacent fields such as energy, environment, and urban planning. I have a special interest in modeling and predicting traveler behavior, particularly in the context of new transport technologies such as automated driving, electric vehicles, and mobility-as-a-service. However, my research interests are much broader; I also enjoy studying and modeling choice behavior in various other domains, such as health, political sciences, marketing, sociology, law, etc., collaborating with leading scholars in those fields.

Statistical analysis of choice behavior

Master programs:

Complex Systems Engineering and Management
Transport, Infrastructure and Logistics

Chorus, C. G., Pudāne, B., Mouter, N., & Campbell, D. (2018). Taboo trade-off aversion: A discrete choice model and empirical analysis. Journal of choice modelling, 27, 37-49.
Pudāne, B., Molin, E. J., Arentze, T. A., Maknoon, Y., & Chorus, C. G. (2018). A Time-use Model for the Automated Vehicle-era. Transportation Research Part C, 93, 102-114.
Liebe, U., Meyerhoff, J., Kroesen, M., Chorus, C., & Glenk, K. (2018). From welcome culture to welcome limits? Uncovering preference changes over time for sheltering refugees in Germany. PloS one, 13(8), e0199923.
Kroesen, M., Handy, S., Chorus, C.G., 2017. Do attitudes cause behavior or vice versa? An alternative conceptualization of the attitude-behavior relationship in travel behavior modeling. Transportation Research Part A, 101, 190-202
Mouter, N., Chorus, C.G., 2016. Value of time: A citizen perspective. Transportation Research Part A, 91, 317-329
Chorus, C.G., 2015. Models of Moral Decision Making: Literature Review and Research Agenda for Discrete Choice Analysis. Journal of Choice Modelling, 16(69-85)
Chorus, C.G., 2014. A generalized random regret minimization model. Transportation Research Part B, 68, 224-238
Chorus, C.G., Walker, J.L., Ben-Akiva, M.E., 2013. A joint model of travel information acquisition and response to received messages. Transportation Research Part C, 26(1), 61-77

New discrete choice theory for understanding moral decision making behavior
In 2017, my team and I have started a five year long research effort which aims to develop and empirically validate new mathematical (discrete choice and agent based) models for moral decision making. This research endeavor is funded by a 2 million euro ERC Consolidator grant.

Spatial and Transport Impacts of Automated Driving
Studies the long term impacts of automated driving, on mobility and land use patterns. Sponsored by NWO (Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research) – SURF program.

Chorus, C.G., 2015. Turning the light on in Virginia: New perspectives on choice behavior modeling. Inaugural lecture, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands
Chorus, C.G., 2012. Random regret-based discrete choice modeling: A tutorial. Springer Briefs in Business, Springer, Heidelberg, Germany
Chorus, C.G., 2007. Traveler response to information. TRAIL Ph.D.-Thesis Series, Delft, The Netherlands

Caspar Chorus

Professor, Department Head

+31 15 2788546
C.G.Chorus@tudelft.nl
Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management

Building 31

Room: B3.120

Department:
Engineering Systems and Services

Group:
Transport and Logistics

Secretary:
Betty van Koppen (for teaching- and research-related appointments)
Laura Bruns (for all other appointments)

Research interests:
_{Choice behavior modeling
Moral decision making
Bounded rationality, social influence
Artificial agents and societies
Mobililty/travel behavior modeling}