Judgment & Decision Making (EXP 5575) Spring 2008

Required Text

Plous, S. (1993). The psychology of judgment and decision making. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Recommended Text

American Psychological Association. (2001). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (5^th ed.). 

Course Catalog Description

Seminar on current theories of human judgment and decision making. Normative models of decision making (based in statistics, philosophy, psychology, and economics) and descriptive models of decision models of decision making (based on research in cognitive psychology and social psychology) will be discussed. Naturalistic decision making and the role of expertise in judgment and decision making will also be discussed. Topics include judgment and decision making under a variety of conditions of uncertainty, including aviation, diagnosis and treatment decision in clinical psychology and medicine, forecasting, risk assessment, and jury decisions.

This seminar course will give an overview of the basic findings in the field of judgment and decision making, as well as take an in-depth look at basic and applied research on a variety of specialized topics.  Topics we will explore include:  the influence of affect and emotion on decision making, decision making in a social context, decision making and health, risk perception, and ecological rationality, as well as topics tailored to the individual research interests of students in the course.

Student Learning Outcomes

Students who successfully complete this course should be able to:

Understand the historical and current trends in the field of judgment & decision making.

Identify and Explain methodologies used for research on judgment & decision making.

Explain psychological research on the strengths and weaknesses of human judgment & decision

Explain applications of JDM research on fields inside and outside of psychology.

Identify and explain affective and social influences on judgment & decision making.

Conduct targeted literature searches on topics in judgment & decision making.

Critically evaluate, summarize, and integrate research on judgment & decision making.

Develop a detailed knowledge and understanding of theory and empirical data concerning decision

Write a research proposal using the editorial style of the APA.

Conduct a critical review of a psychological research paper.

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University of West Florida | Department of Psychology | 11000 University Pkwy. | Pensacola, FL 32514 | (850) 474-2000