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Behavioral Decision Making

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90-806

Units: 12

Description

Behavioral decision making is the study of how people make decisions, in terms that can eventually help them to make better decisions. It draws together research from psychology, economics, political science, and management, among other fields. It has applications that range from managing potentially hazardous technologies, to involving patients more fully in the choice of medical procedures, to the design of computer-interactive systems. The course covers behavioral theories of probabilistic inference, intuitive prediction, preference, and decision making. Topics include heuristics and biases in inference and prediction, risk perceptions and attitudes, strategies for combining information from different sources and dealing with conflicting objectives, and the roles of group and emotional processes in decision making. The course emphasizes the mutually reinforcing relationship between theory and application.

Learning Outcomes

Students will become familiar with the major areas of research in the field behavioral decision making, demonstrate how theoretical principles of decision science relate to practical and policy-oriented issues and defend and critique the research methods used in decision research.

Prerequisites Description

Must be familiar with basic statistical concepts and decision making theories.