Contract Decisions of Consumers between Law and Pschology (CLP)

Companies have been using these research findings for decades to influence consumers accurately and thus increase their sales. The use of realistic psychological foundations for more effective state legislation and market regulation was first proposed almost 20 years ago by a field of research in the USA known as "behavioral law and economics". However, this research has still not really gained a foothold in Europe. We find this very regrettable and want to change this.

Our research group is attempting to develop a stable basis for the consideration of the findings of modern psychology in legislation in the area of consumer contract law, which is still little studied from an interdisciplinary perspective. The CLP project brings together researchers from the fields of psychology and law, which are supplemented by other disciplines, such as environmental systems science or economics, depending on the issue at hand. Methodologically, we build on the approach of "behavioral law and economics". Experiments are intended to show how consumers actually react to being influenced by legal rules and how they can be put in a more effective and accurate position to make good contractual decisions compared to the current legal situation. We therefore do not primarily want to adapt the consumer to the law, but rather the law to the consumer, taking into account the specific contract conclusion environment and situation.