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  • Course Introduction

    During this class, course objectives and requirements were presented.


    There was also an introduction to biases which was based on activity demonstrating one of the most prevalent biases - the confirmation bias. We also covered the topic of human motivation for justice and beliefs about just world.


    Please have a look at the video with the information on the course organization during the 2019-20 summer term under the Covid-19 pandemic. It is important for you to know that presentations (a version with and a separate one without my audio commentary) will be uploaded to the e-learning platform every week. Additionally, you will be assigned tasks that need to be completed to pass the course. A test will be organized during the semester, as was previously planned. The final project is also to be completed, and grading criteria stays the same. The time of my office hours remains the same. You can also contact me via email. I will be happy to provide any information you find necessary.

  • Heuristics and biases - part 1

    Psychology has had a long tradition of studying heuristics and biases in decision making. Those studies led one author - Daniel Kahneman to achieving the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences.

    Heuristics are rules-of-thumb that can be applied to guide decision-making based on a limited subset of the available information. Because they rely on less information, heuristics are assumed to facilitate faster decision-making than strategies that require more information.

    (definition of American Psychological Association)

     

    Cognitive biases are systematic patterns of deviation from norm or rationality in judgment.

    (Haselton, Nettle, Andrews, 2005)

    Please find attached my presentation on this topic (there are two files - one with my audio commentary and one without it)

    As a part of your task you will be required to see the following TED talk by Dan Ariely

    https://www.ted.com/talks/dan_ariely_are_we_in_control_of_our_own_decisions/transcript

  • Heuristics and biases - part 2

    Heuristics which were initially studied by Kahneman and Tversky were:

    - availability heuristic

    - representativeness heuristic

    - anchoring and adjustment heuristic

    Here you can find the original paper:

    http://www.cog.brown.edu/courses/cg195/pdf_files/fall05/CG195TverskyKahn1974.pdf

    They were all found to have a robust effect on cognitions and decisions in multiple ways, in the laboratory and outside of it. They thus allow to predict the way in which human beings are likely to process information.

    You can learn more about them from the article posted here (pages 1 to 7 are recommended):

    https://assets.cambridge.org/97805217/92608/sample/9780521792608ws.pdf

  • Rational Decision Making

    Our next topic is about rational decision making.

    I would like you to familiarize yourselves with such concepts as satisficing (coined by Herbert Simon) and maximizing. You can read an interesting short article on this topic published in Psychology Today:

    https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/science-choice/201506/satisficing-vs-maximizing

    Next week this course will turn into a regular e-learning program. I will try to keep course requirements as close to those which were announced during our first meeting as possible.

    You will be required to read a classic scientific paper about enhancing human decisions and making them more rational. Next week I will give you additional information about your tasks related to this paper. You may however already start reading it.

    It is the following article: Larrick, R. P., Morgan, J. N., & Nisbett, R. E. (1990). Teaching the use of cost-benefit reasoning in everyday life. Psychological Science, 1(6), 362-370. and it can be accessed here:

    https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/92169/TeachingTheUseOfCostBenefit.pdf?sequence=1

  • Cultural differences in decision making

    Our next topic pertains to cultural difficulties in decision making. 

    Please see the attached presentation. Your goals pertaining to this topic will be defined soon - after previous tasks are set and fulfilled. Nevertheless I advise you to already have a look at the presentation.

  • Team Decision Making

    The next topic is about team decision making. This week we investigate essential psychological phenomena that affect the processes and outcomes of group decision making.


    Despite the proverb indicating that "two heads are better than one", many social science scholars have been quite dubious about the quality of decisions taken by groups of people. This attitude is not without reason. You can learn about them from the presentation.

    As I promised, there is no task this week as we have Easter Holiday coming. Nevertheless, if anyone of you is interested in additional material apart from the topic's presentation, I encourage you to read the following article on Groupthink:
    https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/01/30/groupthink

    I wish you happy and safe holidays.

  • Psychology of money and financial decisions

    Right after Easter we have an important topic of Psychology of Money and Financial Decisions. 

    The presentation is focused mainly on three different effects:

    - mental accounting

    - pain of paying

    - money illusion

    Please see the description of a task that is waiting for you. I believe it is a rather short task.

    I plan to conduct the half-semester test in three weeks (7th May). It will take place during the time of our classes and will be organized on the e-learning platform. It will cover topics from the beginning of semester to the current one. 

    It will be based on presentations and materials you were required to read or watch. I will provide more information about how you can best get prepared before the next class (23rd April).

  • Temat 8

    This week's topic describes how individual people differ when it comes to decision making. Please see the enclosed presentation. It also includes a link to Michal Kosinski's speech, which includes information about the relationship between personality model, social media activity, and decisions. I believe you may find it interesting.


    I also promised to upload the information about the test preparation and organization. I planned to organize it next week, but I realized that according to the university' calendar 30th of April is a day without classes. I thus have to postpone it to the 7th of May. Please see the presentation and the video for more details.

  • Half-semester test

    The half-semester test is held on 7th May.
    Times are 9:15 for the first group, and 11:15 for the second one.
    Please remember that you have 35 minutes to finish the test. I know that it is not much. It is more important to write an answer to each question, even if you do not have enough time to write everything you would like.

    Update - after the test

    Here is a short description of my thought on the test. Please remember that it is worth 30% of your final grade. To make grading easy for me, I set 9 as the maximum number of points (3 per each question). It will probably be no surprise to you those submissions that included the indication that: you put the effort in preparing for the test and that you were able to show your own considerations tended to obtain higher grades.

    Below you can find a few thoughts about the test's questions on the general level. You can access your score under the appropriate task section. If you need more specific information about your result, please let me know.

    Session 1 

    Question 1 – Group polarization

    In this question, it was important to indicate that a group discussion is necessary for this phenomenon to emerge (some people confused it a bit with any instance of group conformity) and to present an example.

    Positive possible aspects include the increase in group cohesion, the buy-in of an idea, and the high motivation to pursue the task. If the final decision is good enough, these effects might be even welcomed.

    Question 2 – Mental accounting

    As many of you accurately indicated, this mechanism does not only allow us to have the control but also feel satisfied. I liked that many of you proved that, on the one hand, you remembered examples mentioned in the course presentation, and on the other, were able to provide your own (including a jar with 5 pln collected for particular purposes).

    Question 3

    In the third question, it was essential to show that you know the crucial differences between these two decision-making models (i.e., the holistic and analytical approach). You mentioned different positive aspects of applying the former (including the process involving less conflict), and the outcome (including taking the context into account and thinking more systemically or with a longer time-perspective in mind).

    Session 2

    Question 1 – Pain of paying

    In this question, you were writing about ways in which pain of paying can be increased. You mentioned paying with cash, installing large signs indicating the price, and even had a few innovative ideas about additional stimuli aimed at increasing the saliency of spending money (e.g., sounds). Some of you also proposed thinking about the opportunity cost.

    Question 2 – The relationship between heuristics and biases

    This question required you to indicate that you understand the relationship between these two elements. Heuristics so not have to lead to biases, and it is hard to imagine our functioning without them as they grant us the ability to process information quickly. Even if during classes, we focus on heuristics leading people to erroneous decisions, it is important to remember that they are often useful. I liked many of the examples you provided.

    Question 3

    In the third question, it was essential to show that you know the crucial differences between these two decision-making models (i.e., the holistic and analytical approach). You mentioned different positive aspects of applying the former (including the process involving less conflict), and the outcome (including taking the context into account and thinking more systemically or with a longer time-perspective in mind).

  • Social Cognition

    This week we focus on social cognition, which is related to obtaining, storing, and using knowledge about other people. I strongly encourage you to see the presentation.


    On one of the last slides, the topic of implicit cognitions is mentioned. You can take the IAT test here:
    implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/

    Your current task is, however, about your final course project. I would like you to start thinking about it and develop your proposed topic.

  • Assessment of others and social situation

    This class is focused on the way in which we assess other people and social situations.


    In the enclosed presentation, you will find the information about the main motives that lead these processes and specific examples of mechanisms involved in them.


    The presentation is concluded with an interesting classification of different points of view on how we tend to see ourselves. I hope you will find it interesting.

  • Creative Decision Making

    Creative Decision Making

    This week the class is focused on the topic of creativity. The essential characteristics of creative thinking and its effects are discussed in the presentation.

    You can also learn from it about how creative principles have been incorporated into creative thinking models. I cover two of them – design thinking and triz. Additionally, several approaches from research on those who proved to be creative in their thinking and decisions are discussed.

  • Supporting the Decision Making Process

    4.06.2020

    This week the focus is placed on supporting the decision making process.


    The presentation starts with information about a few examples of traditional methods used to enhance the quality of decisions.


    Later it moves to the topic of algorithms and concludes with algorithm aversion. I look forward to reading your papers on that topic. Please have a look at the presentation.

    I also recommend a presentation of one of the authors of "Algorithms to live by" where he explains how computer science needs to solve similar problems as human beings face daily.

  • Final projects

    I am creating a final task under this section. You will be able to submit your final group projects there. It is sufficient if one group member uploads the project.
    I will try to read them and your last assignments and provide you with grades' propositions before the end of the summer examination session