Making decisions

Do you hate making decisions? Does the ability of others to make snap decisions really frustrate you? This free course will help you understand some of the processes involved in decision making. Attention to the psychology of decision making and the social context in which decisions are made can improve your understanding of others and yourself.

• Introduction
• Learning outcomes
• 1 Making decisions
• 1 Making decisions
• 1.1 Introducing decision-making
• 2 Understanding your own approach
• 2 Understanding your own approach
• 2.1 Exercising judgement
• 2.2 Different approaches to decision making
• 3 The rational-economic perspective and its problems
• 3 The rational-economic perspective and its problems
• 3.1 Introduction
• 3.2 Utility theory
• 3.3 Limitations of the rational-economic perspective
• 4 A psychological perspective
• 4 A psychological perspective
• 4.1 Introduction
• 4.2 Bounded rationality and the use of heuristics
• 4.3 Framing the problem
• 4.4 Using information
• 4.5 Deciding: problems of judgement
• 4.5.1 Filtering
• 4.5.2 Anchoring adjustment
• 4.6 Post-decision evaluation
• 5 A sociological perspective
• 5 A sociological perspective
• 5.1 Introduction
• 5.2 The social construction of reality
• 5.3 Social institutions
• 5.4 The pursuit of legitimacy
• 5.5 Social pressures which affect our decision making
• 5.5.1 Coercive pressures
• 5.5.2 Mimetic pressures
• 5.5.3 Normative pressures
• 5.6 A way of dealing with social pressures: decoupling
• 6 Risk and decision making
• 6 Risk and decision making
• 6.1 Introduction
• 6.2 A rational-economic perspective on risk
• 6.3 The psychology of risk
• 6.4 Prospect theory
• 6.4.1 Implications
• 6.5 The social construction of quantifiable risk
• 6.6 The social construction of unknown risk
• 7 Making a difference to decision making
• 7 Making a difference to decision making
• 7.1 Introduction
• 7.2 Understanding the limits of rationality
• 7.3 What is an effective decision?
• 7.4 Avoiding decision traps
• 7.5 Becoming an institutional entrepreneur
• Conclusion
• Keep on learning
• References
• Acknowledgements