Behavioral decision making is the study of how people make decisions, in terms that can eventually help them to make better decisions. It draws together research from psychology, economics, and other fields such as marketing and management. Behavioral decision making delves into the cognitive processes that underlie our choices and extends to applications that range from managing potentially hazardous technologies, to public policy for encouraging healthier behavior, to techniques for making people happier and more honest.

This course covers behavioral theories of probabilistic inference, intuitive prediction, preference, and decision making. Topics include heuristics and biases in inference, prediction, and choice; decision making in social and moral domains; and methods for improving decision making. The course emphasizes the mutually reinforcing relationship between theory and application. (Course description courtesy of Dr. Erin Carbone)