Prospectus

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Decision Making: Theory and Practice

Course
2020-2021

Important Note

  • All Semester II bachelor and master psychology courses and examinations (2020-2021) will be offered in an on-line format.

  • If it is safe and possible to do so, supplementary course meetings may be planned on-campus. However, attendance at these meetings will not be required to successfully complete Semester II courses.

  • All obligatory work groups and examinations will be offered on-line during Central European Time, which is local time in the Netherlands.

  • Information on the mode of instruction and the assessment method per course will be offered in Brightspace, considering the possibilities that are available at that moment. The information in Brightspace is leading during the Corona crisis, even if this does not match the information in the Prospectus.

Entry requirements

Only open to master’s students in Psychology.

Description

Shall I buy a travel insurance? Shall I go to the party if Mary doesn’t? Is this person guilty? Should I worry about this medical test outcome? And should I stay home after a 'code orange' forcast? We all face a perplexing array of judgments and decisions every day. In this course, we review the main theories in judgment and decision making, and we consider applications in both every day and professional decision problems.

Course objectives

  • Being introduced in the formal and psychological science of judgment and decision making

  • Being introduced in 3 fields of application, among which medical and legal decision making

Timetable

For the timetables of your lectures, work groups and exams, please select your study programme in: Psychology timetables

Lectures

Registration

Course

Students need to enroll for lectures and work group sessions. Master’s course registration

Examination

Students are not automatically enrolled for an examination. They can register via uSis from 100 to 10 calendar days before the date. Students who are not registered will not be permitted to take the examination. Registering for exams

Mode of instruction

Eight lectures (including guest lectures from professional decision making experts).

Note

  • All Semester I bachelor and master psychology courses and examinations (2020-2021) will be offered in an on-line format.

  • If it is safe and possible to do so, supplementary course meetings may be planned on-campus. However, attendance at these meetings will not be required to successfully complete Semester I courses.

  • All obligatory work groups and examinations will be offered on-line during Central European Time, which is local time in the Netherlands.

  • Information on the mode of instruction and the assessment method per course will be offered in Brightspace, considering the possibilities that are available at that moment. The information in Brightspace is leading during the Corona crisis, even if this does not match the information in the Prospectus.

  • At this time it is not possible to provide information about Semester II (2020-2021).

Assessment method

The examination consists of two parts:

  • A multiple-choice examination of 30 questions on Newell et al’s book

  • An essay examination (open questions) about papers. The two components are tested simultaneously. The final grade is a combination of the multiple-choice examination grade (70%) and the essay examination grade (30%). A higher grade in one component can be used to compensate for a fail in another component. A grade for a unit of assessment that is no lower than 4.5 can be compensated by a grade for the other unit of assessment.

The Institute of Psychology follows the policy of the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences to systematically check student papers for plagiarism with the help of software. Disciplinary measures will be taken when fraud is detected. Students are expected to be familiar with and understand the implications of this fraud policy.

Note

  • All Semester I bachelor and master psychology courses and examinations (2020-2021) will be offered in an on-line format.

  • If it is safe and possible to do so, supplementary course meetings may be planned on-campus. However, attendance at these meetings will not be required to successfully complete Semester I courses.

  • All obligatory work groups and examinations will be offered on-line during Central European Time, which is local time in the Netherlands.

  • Information on the mode of instruction and the assessment method per course will be offered in Brightspace, considering the possibilities that are available at that moment. The information in Brightspace is leading during the Corona crisis, even if this does not match the information in the Prospectus.

  • At this time it is not possible to provide information about Semester II (2020-2021).

Reading list

  • Newell, Lagnado & Shanks (2015). Straight choices. The psychology of decision making. 2nd Edition. Hove: Psychology Press.

  • Articles related to the topics of the guest lectures.

Contact information

Dr. Fenna Poletiek poletiek@fsw.leidenuniv.nl