Purpose: This course will investigate how people evaluate options—that is, how people judge how good things are—and make decisions. How do people judge how happy they are? Judge whether a price is reasonable? Judge portion sizes? Judge their own personal attributes (how fat they feel)? Judge how much chocolate they just ate? Judge how bad their last chemistry test was? The class will then look at how these judgments affect the decisions people make. How do people decide what to buy at the supermarket? How do people select romantic partners? How do business people decide whom to hire? How do people decide whether they should eat more, eat less? How do people decide whether or not to take an umbrella when the sky is threatening rain? Why do people decide to keep gambling or to stop gambling after winning? After losing?
Texts: There is no textbook for this course. Papers will be posted on Blackboard.