PSK 562 Decision Making and Problem Solving

Do you think that you are rational?
Numerous social psychological research show the opposite, people make lots of cognitive biases and errors in judgment and decision making processes. Most of the time - if not always - we use some short - cut strategies so called heuristics instead of rational, step by step decision making procedures. Emotions, environmental constraints, our past experiences and future expectations mediate daily and expert judgments and decision making. Even experts do fail to make rational decisions.

Rationality is an important concept that will be discussed in the course. There is no single definition of rationality. Economists, engineers, medical doctors, military personnel, and social psychologist defined it differently.
The purpose of PSK562 Decision Making & Problem Solving course is to inform students about the mechanisms underlying judgment and decision making. Students are going to be asked to perform short projects about this topic and show their reasoning abilities. Although this course is not based on mathematical theories, simple and intermediate level of statistical knowledge is necessary (especially theories of probability, correlation and regression). Furthermore, decision making under special uncertainties, such as risky situations and so called crises is one of the major topics that are going to be discussed in lectures.

Please check kokdemir.info/courses/psk462 each week for required readings.