Objectives

Good judgment and decision making skills are important, both in private and professional life. Not doubting that making wise decisions can be considered an art, the present course focuses on the scientific aspects. The goal is to equip students with an overview of major paradigms in judgment and decision making research, including both interesting phenomena and theoretical frameworks.

Contents

We start with historical foundations of behavioral decision making, then (critically) discuss some common judgmental biases and decision traps, have a closer look at models of bounded rationality and at decisions under uncertainty and risk, and finally cover some applications. Specifically, the list of topics looks as follows (subject to change):

Introduction

History and Foundations

Heuristics and Biases

Heuristic and Biases Revisited

Intuition - Fast and Frugal Heuristics

Preferential Choices under Risk

References

All materials can be downloaded from the course page. For the slides, two parallel versions exist (one in English, one in French). The literature that is relevant for the exam (journal articles, book chapters) is exclusively in English.

Pre-requisites

None.

Note that this lecture is closely related to my other class ("Jugdment and Decision Making - Seminar"), not only timewise (the lecture is on Wednesday 10:15-11:45 and the seminar is on Wednesday 8:30-10:00) but also contentwise. While the lecture is teaching ex-catedra, the seminar is highly interactive and hinges on your input and contribution with lots of discussions that deepen your learning. Taking both courses is recommended, but each is designed such that attendence is possible even if you do not attend the other.

Evaluation

First attempt

Exam:

Without exam (cf. terms)  

Evaluation:

In contrast to what has been announced before the course started, due to COVID-19 the final grade will be determined exclusively by an online exam (Take home). Exam questions will be uploaded on the moodle, and your answers will have to be uploaded on the moodle. Most, if not all, questions will be open questions with word limits for your answers.

Material use: This exam will then, of course, be open-book, that is, you can use all materials (e.g., articles on the reading list, slides, your notes you took during the presentations of Units 1 and 2 in class, and the videos covering Units 3-6). You can also use additional material, provided you cite it correctly.

Language: Questions will be in English and in French, and answers can be in English or in French.

Deadlines: Questions will uploaded by the end of May at the latest. Deadline for uploading your answers is Friday June 19th, 23:59.

Retake

Exam:

Written 100 hours

Documentation:

Allowed

Calculator:

Allowed

Evaluation:

Online exam with different questions, followed by a skype (or Zoom, or Webex) session.