Product Description

When faced with an important decision, we are often on our own to think through what we might do and what the probable consequences of out behaviors are. As we make these judgments, it is important that we be able to communicate precisely and fluently with one another. In Rational Choice in an Uncertain World, renowned authors Hastie and Dawes compare the basic principles of rationality with actual behavior in making decisions. They describe theories and research finding from the field of judgment and decision making in a non-technical manner, using anecdotes as a teaching device. Intended as an introductory textbook for advanced undergraduate and graduate students, the material not only is of scholarly interest but is practical as well.

In this volume, you’ll find:

• New, student-friendly chapter introductions and conclusions
• Practical, everyday examples from the fields of finance, medicine, law and engineering
• Comprehensive, up-to-date information keeping pace with changing ideas within the field
• Additional discussion of the descriptive, psychological models of decision making to expand upon the original emphasis on normative, rational, expected utility models 

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #321372 in Books
• Published on: 2001-06-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 392 pages

Review
"Concise text that resonates with students." (Eric J. Michel )

From the Publisher
William James Award from the American Psychological Association

About the Author
Reid Hastie has degrees from Stanford University (1968), the University of California at San Diego (1970), and Yale University (1973) in Psychology. He taught at Harvard University, Northwestern University, and now at the University of Colorado where he is currently Professor of Psychology and Director of the Center for Research on Judgment and Policy. He has served on review panels for the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Research Council; and on fourteen professional journal editorial boards. His research has been funded continuously by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health since 1975.

His primary research interests are in the areas of judgment and decision making (managerial, legal, medical, engineering, and personal), memory and cognition, and social psychology. He has published over 100 articles in scientific journals on these topics. He is best known for his research on legal decision making (Social Psychology in Court [with Michael Saks]; Inside the Jury [with Steven Penrod and Nancy Pennington]; Inside the Juror [edited]; and Punitive Damages: How Juries Decide [forthcoming, multiple authors]) and on social memory and judgment processes (Person Memory: The Cognitive Basis of Social Perception [several co-authors]). He is currently studying: the psychology of investment decisions; the role of explanations in category concept representations (including the effects on category classification, deductive, and inductive inferences); civil jury decision making (punitive damages and sexual harassment); the primitive sources of confidence and probability judgments; decision making competencies across the adult life span; and neural substrates of risky decisions. He is writing a textbook on the Psychology of Judgment and Decision Making in collaboration with Robyn Dawes (of Carnegie Mellon University) and has recently completed an Annual Review of Psychology chapter, “Problems for Judgment and Decision Making.”

Customer Reviews

An interesting read
I read this book as part of a college course on cognition. It was defintely the most interesting of the 3 books we read in this class.

The book effectively teaches you how to go about making well-thought-out decisions. The text in itself is easy to read and comprehend. There are also many apt examples, both abstract and from everyday life. This combination ensures a successful reading of this book.

While I would have probably never read this book if not for the class I took, I'm glad I did and would recommend this people from all walks of life. Being able to make a good, well-thought-out, rational decision is the best skill one can have.

A must for all Decision Analysis Consultants
As a management consultant working with clients to make higher quality decisions, I have made many observations of how people (especially executives and groups) make business decisions. But observing how they make decisions is different than "why" they decide what they decide. This book provides so much insight into the "why" it is definitely worth the reading. While the book is very valuable on the "why" it is a little dated on state of the art analytic decision techniques. But with that said, I would highly recommend this book to any consultant (OE, OD, DA, etc.) working with individuals or groups where decisions are being made.

A great update to a classic
The addition of Reid Hastie as an author to Robyn Dawes' classic text on judgment and decision making was superb choice. This edition appears to be written very much in Hastie's voice, from the perspective of a cognitive psychologist. Moreover, we find additional attention paid to algebraic models, which was something that was missing from previous editions. Hastie and Dawes ranks as one of the essential readings for the judgment and decision-making field.