Columbia University

 

PSYCH  2235

Thinking and Decision Making

 

Meeting Time:          MonWed 10:35-11:50  

Room:                         501 Schermerhorn

                                                                              

Instructor:

David Krantz

Office Hours: TBA

419A Schermerhorn Hall (4-4534)

Email: dhk@columbia.edu

 

Teaching Assistants:

TBA

 

Course Requirements and Grading

The course requirement is 8 units of work. A short paper (2-6 pages) counts as 1 unit, an exam (midterm or final) as 2 units, and a long paper (10-30 pages) as 3 units. In general, the 8 units should include at least 1 exam (Most students choose to take the midterm, rather than the final exam). A student who wants to pursue some topic in great depth could receive permission to take all 8 units as papers; but this must be based on a detailed plan approved by the instructor. The exams will be based on the lectures and assigned readings.

Papers:

A short or long paper must be based on one or more research articles that have appeared in the scientific literature (i.e., professional journals or technical monographs, not popular books). The student's paper should outline the scientific issue raised by the article(s) and should offer suggestions concerning how the article(s) might be followed up with further research. The paper can also include anecdotal discussion of experiences with personal, group, or organizational decisions; but these must be related in a clear manner to the scientific issues discussed in the articles. An outline for a short or long paper, together with the source(s) to be used, must be approved at least one week before the due date for the paper (Dates of the exams and due dates for papers will be available in a subsequent version of the syllabus).

 

The instructor and teaching assistants will help students to develop paper outlines and to find source articles.

 

Textbook and Other Readings:

 

Course Topics and Reading Assignments (Tentative)

 

Week 1:

Introduction and Course Overview

Plous, Chs. 1-4

Baron, J. (2000), Thinking and Decision Making, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University

Press, Ch. 3: "Good thinking: The nature of rationality"

 

 

Weeks 2-4:

Normative Theories of Judgment and Choice

Plous, Chs. 7-8

Baron, Ch 10: "Normative theory of choice"

 

 

Weeks 5-6:

Descriptive Theories of Judgment and Choice

Plous, Chs. 9-15

Baron, parts of Ch. 15: "Quantitative judgment"

 

 

Weeks 7-8:

The Social Side of Judgment and Decision Making

Plous, Chs. 16-20

 

 

Weeks 9-11:

Preference Elicitation

Plous, Chs. 5-6

Tversky, A., & Kahneman, D. (1981).  The framing of decisions and the psychology of

choice. Science, 211, 453-458.

Thaler, R. (1992). Preference reversals. Chapter 7 in The WinnerÃs Curse: Paradoxes and

Anamolies of Economic Life.  New York: Free Press.

McNeil, B. J., Pauker, S. G., Sox, H. C., & Tversky, A. (1982).  On the elicitation of preferences for alternative therapies.  New England Journal of Medicine, 306, 1259-1262.  

 

 

Weeks 12-14:

Social Dilemmas and Games

McMillan, J. (1992). Games, Strategies, and Managers. New York: Oxford University

Press, Chs. 1-3

Baron, Ch. 18: "Social Dilemmas"

Plous, Ch. 21

Dawes, R. M. & Thaler, R. H. (1988). Anomalies: Cooperation.  Journal of Economic

Perspectives, 2, 187-197.

Hardin, G. R. (1968). The tragedy of the commons.  Science, 162, 1243-1248.

 

 

Last modified on April 4, 2003