Assignment Task:
What makes a decision good?
The research that shows that most people are prone to decision errors (such as anchoring, reasoning by representativeness and availability, and susceptibility to framing) has been criticized for using trick questions to make people look stupid. The researchers themselves argue that they are trying to understand how people think, and that by making people aware of the possibility of decision errors, people will make better decisions.
To them, a better decision is one that leads to higher accuracy, greater long term utility, and would not change if the same situation was described differently.
Do you agree or disagree with these criteria for a good decision? What, if anything, would you change or add? Can a good decision lead to a bad outcome? Can a bad decision lead to a good outcome? How? Think back to a good decision and a bad decision that you've made. Were these decisions easy or difficult? Do you think decision errors of the kind we've discussed played a role? Why are these decisions evaluated as good or bad?
2 pages