BCSS 100 Judgement and Decision Making
Welcome to a new unit for 2008
BCSS 100: Judgement and Decision Making is a school based unit that provides essential grounding in the reasoning and decision techniques used in the cognitive and social sciences.
This unit introduces students to the concepts and techniques of rational thinking and decision-making, with emphasis on the sharp discrepancy between ideal rationality and observed human behaviour. In spite of limitations on time, information, memory and reasoning capacity, people are able to make rational choices and plans using simple rules that are effective most of the time. Yet these rules (or ‘heuristics’) induce cognitive biases. Predictions of various theories of rational choice are compared with scientific findings about how people do choose. The unit provides an essential grounding in the reasoning and decision techniques used in the cognitive and social sciences.
The unit starts with the empirical evidence of rational failings and biases, seeking to explain them. In this context theories of idealized rationality are introduced. Ideal rationality theories are then compared with recent theories of bounded rationality. By focusing on how we actually reason and how and why our heuristics can lead us astray, students can appreciate the point of the idealized theories and the crucial techniques and concepts they deploy.
Read about changes to the first year program and Undergraduate degrees.
Undergraduate Degrees Psychology (PDF 1.3Mb)
