A gift of $10 million from a Princeton University parent who wishes to remain anonymous will create the Daniel Kahneman and Anne Treisman Center for Behavioral Science and Public Policy, it was announced this week. The center will allow the University to strengthen its role in the field and improve the development of effective policymaking.

The donor has long been an admirer of the work of Mr. Kahneman, who is a Nobel laureate and the Eugene Higgins Professor of Psychology Emeritus at the University and a professor of psychology and public affairs emeritus, and Ms. Treisman, the James S. McConnell Distinguished University Professor of Psychology Emeritus.

The center will be located at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. Over the past 15 years, the Wilson school has developed research and teaching initiatives in the area of behavioral applications to policy involving faculty members from the departments of psychology and economics, as well as sociology, politics, and other disciplines.

The center will build on the work that earned Mr. Kahneman a Nobel Prize in 2002.

“This generous gift will allow us to deepen and expand our efforts in an extremely promising area of teaching and research,” said President Christopher L. Eisgruber. “Princeton’s faculty members are applying behavioral science techniques to topics that include law, economics, health care, household finance and dispute resolution. We expect that the research conducted at the center will directly influence local, national and global public policy, identifying new approaches to address social problems and improve lives.” 

Cecilia Rouse, dean of the Wilson School, said the gift will support graduate and postdoctoral fellowships, and provide flexible funding for short-term visitors, new research projects, lecture series and conferences, and the dissemination of research results. It also will play an important part in connecting Princeton researchers with policymakers.

Eldar Shafir, the William Stewart Tod Professor of Psychology and Public Affairs, will serve as the center’s first director. A Princeton faculty member since 1989, he studies how people make judgments in situations of conflict and uncertainty, focusing in particular on decision making in the context of poverty. He was a member of President Barack Obama’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability and is the co-author of the 2013 book “Scarcity: Why Having Too Little Means So Much.”

Mr. Kahneman and Ms. Treisman, who are husband and wife, said they are honored that the center has been named for them.

“I find deep satisfaction in the idea of a continuing connection with Princeton through the center,” Ms. Treisman said. Mr. Kahneman added, “I am confident that great things will be accomplished in the center, and personally gratified that Anne and I are joined in its name.”