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BCSS100 Judgment and Decision-Making: Logic and Behaviour

Credit Points 6
Offering
Responsible Campus Teaching Period Mode of Study
Armidale Trimester 2 Off Campus
Armidale Trimester 2 On Campus
Intensive School(s) None
Supervised Exam There is a UNE Supervised Examination held at the end of the teaching period in which you are enrolled.
Pre-requisites None
Co-requisites None
Restrictions None
Notes None
Combined Units None
Coordinator(s) Drew Khlentzos (dkhlentz@une.edu.au)
Unit Description

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.
Materials Textbook information will be displayed approximately 8 weeks prior to the commencement of the teaching period. Please note that textbook requirements may vary from one teaching period to the next.
Disclaimer Unit information may be subject to change prior to commencement of the teaching period.
Assessment Assessment information will be published prior to commencement of the teaching period.
Learning Outcomes (LO) Upon completion of this unit, students will be able to:
  1. appreciate the selectivity of perception, memory and judgment;
  2. understand the role played by language, culture and context in judgment-formation;
  3. grasp the basic ideas developed in theories of reasoning and choice and use the techniques deployed by those theories;
  4. demonstrate an appreciation of the essential role of heuristics in reasoning and decision making and detect reasoning biases;
  5. measure human performance in reasoning and decision making against the standards of logic and decision-theory;
  6. improve their own reasoning and decision making abilities.

Graduate Attributes (GA)
Attribute Taught Assessed Practised
1 Knowledge of a Discipline
This unit introduces students to the essentials of reasoning and decision-making, a core component in cognitive psychology which will be taught through lectures and tutorials and will be assessed in all assessment components. 		True True True
2 Communication Skills
Communication skills will be taught throughout this unit with Module 2 paying particular attention to the wording or framing of questions and the difference this makes to subjects' responses. Students will practice, and be assessed on, their communication skills through completing the assessment tasks. 		True True True
4 Information Literacy
The emphasis on reasoning and decision skills enhances not only communication skills but also information literacy by instructing students in techniques for analysing information and discerning the logical consequences of that information. Students will practice, and be assessed on, their information literacy skills through completing the assessment tasks. 		True True True
5 Life-Long Learning
Acquired reasoning and decision-making skills will structure all future learning. 		True
6 Problem Solving
Similarly problem solving skills are actively fostered by presenting students with classical problems in logic and decision theory, encouraging them to proffer their own solutions before looking at the correct answers. Students problem solving skills will be practiced and assessed in completing their assessment tasks. 		True True True
7 Social Responsibility
Social responsibility and teamwork will be practised and developed in live and online forums: in lectures and tutorials and by observing acceptable standards of 'netiquette' in online contexts. 		True
8 Team Work
Team work is required for live and online discussions and forums as well as lectures and tutorials. 		True
   

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