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Introduction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 March 2011

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Summary

The papers in this volume are organized according to a few guiding principles.

The first dichotomy is between theory (20 papers) and application (8 papers).

Within the domain of theory we organized the papers into the following trichotomy:

  1. (a) conceptions of choice (9 papers)

  2. (b) beliefs and judgments about uncertainties (4 papers)

  3. (c) values and utilities (7 papers)

Within each of these categories we arranged the papers according to the following sequence:

  1. (a) decisions people make and how they decide

  2. (b) logically consistent decision procedures and proposals of how people should decide

  3. (c) behavioral objections to normative proposals

  4. (d) how to help people to make better decisions in the light of behavioral realities and normative ideals

  5. (e) how to train people to make better decisions, for example, by providing heuristics and, possibly, therapy

This sequence is motivated and elaborated in the overview paper by the editors (chapter 1).

In the application section, the papers are arranged by fields: economics, management, education, and medicine.

We, the organizers of this conference and its proceedings, in discussions among ourselves about our domain of concern – individual decision making under uncertainty – have found the following taxonomy helpful:

Descriptive

  1. Decisions people make

  2. How people decide

Normative

  1. Logically consistent decision procedures

  2. How people should decide

Prescriptive

  1. How to help people to make good decisions

  2. How to train people to make better decisions

Observe that we have moved from the usual dichotomy (descriptive and normative) to a trichotomy by adding a “prescriptive” category.

Type
Chapter
Information
Decision Making
Descriptive, Normative, and Prescriptive Interactions
, pp. 1 - 6
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1988

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