How You Decide: The Science of Human Decision Making

Over millennia, philosophers, theologians, and mathematicians have all weighed in on the topic, and in recent centuries, economists, psychologists, and sociologists have joined the investigation. People have always been fascinated by how the mind works. We also have a desire to learn from our mistakes, but in order to do so, it’s important to understand how we came to the decision that led to those mistakes.

From the Trojans’ acceptance of that big wooden horse, to the factors that help us decide whom to trust and whom to disbelieve, to the food you are likely to purchase in the market tomorrow—someone somewhere has put forth a theory to explain the decision. Some of these past theories could most politely be described as “aspirational,” describing decision making as it should be, not as it often is. Others have caught on in the minds of the general public and even been published in the popular press, only to be later disproven. But the information presented in this course is different.

In How You Decide: The Science of Human Decision Making, Professor Ryan Hamilton, Associate Professor of Marketing at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School, uses research revealed via the scientific method to understand and explain human decision making. While his easygoing manner and anecdotes about surprising and bizarre choices will keep you enthralled, Professor Hamilton also shares what decision science has revealed through empirically tested theories that make falsifiable predictions and lead to testable hypotheses.

All Lectures:
1. Thinking Scientifically about Decisions
2. The Two-System Model of Decision Making
3. The Role of Heuristics in Decisions
4. How Habits Make Decisions Easier
5. Self-Regulation and Choice
6. The Value Curve and Human Decisions
7. Emotional Influences on Decision Making
8. How Goals Guide Our Decisions
9. Reason-Based Choice
10. Mental Accounting as a Factor in Decisions
11. The Role of Mindsets in Decision Making
12. How Consistency Drives Decisions
13. Social Influences on Decision Making
14. Nonconscious Influences on Decision Making
15. An Evolutionary View of Decision Making
16. Regulatory Focus and Human Motivation
17. Decision Rules
18. How Context Influences Choice
19. How Framing Effects Guide Decisions
20. The Role of Memory in Decisions
21. Assortments, Variety, and Choice
22. How Evaluability Affects Decisions
23. Halo Effects and Choice
24. The Four Rs of Decision Making