ATILIM UNIVERSITY

Department of Psychology

PSY 314 The Psychology of Judgment and Decision Making (3-0)3

2004-2005 SPRING

Ulas Basar Gezgin, M.A., Department of Psychology

Required reading materials

Textbook: Hastie, R., & Dawes, R. M. (2001). Rational choice in an uncertain world: the psychology of judgment and decision making. New York: Sage Publications.

Objectives

-     To review and elaborate on the psychological experiments and decision theories concerning how people and enterprises decide and reason under uncertainty.

-          To introduce students to the two blossoming, highly related disciplines: cognitive sciences and decision sciences

-          To gain insight about experimental method as applied to everyday life reasoning processes

Course format

Class meets once a week for total of three hours. It involves the presentation of the experimental designs and empirical findings followed by a general discussion supported by students’ objections and comments.

Course requirements

Attendance (X)

Quizzes (V)

Reflection papers (X)

Class participation (V)

Mid-term examination (X)

Final examination (V)

Attendance

Attendance is not required.

Quizzes

10 weekly quizzes in total will be graded. They will be within the class hours. They are retrospective, i.e based on the course and discussion of the previous week.

Class participation

Active participants will receive bonus grades.

Final examination

            Final examination covers the experiments and the empirical findings as well as theories pertaining to decision making and judgment processes. Most of the questions involve evaluation of cases.

Grading

Quizzes                          50% (5 pts each)

Final examination         50%

OUTLINE

WEEK 1 Thinking and Deciding

WEEK 2 What is Decision Making?

WEEK 3 A General Framework for Judgment

WEEK 4 Judgments from Memory

WEEK 5 Anchoring and Adjustment

WEEK 6 Judgment by Similarity

WEEK 7 Judging by Scenarios and Explanations

WEEK 8 Thinking about Randomness and Causation

WEEK 9 Thinking Rationally About Uncertainty

WEEK 10 EVALUATING CONSEQUENCES: SIMPLE VALUES  

WEEK 11 Complex Values and Attitudes

WEEK 12 A Normative, Rational Decision Theory

WEEK 13 A Descriptive, Psychological Decision Theory

WEEK 14 In Praise of Uncertainty