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HU Credits:
4
Degree/Cycle:
2nd degree (Master)
Responsible Department:
Sociology & Anthropology
Semester:
Yearly
Teaching Languages:
English
Campus:
Mt. Scopus
Course/Module Coordinator:
Adam Hayes
Coordinator Office Hours:
TBD
Teaching Staff:
Dr. adam sadler hayes
Course/Module description:
People make terrible mistakes all the time. We marry the wrong person, governments take misguided military action, corporations spend vast resources on inferior or unwanted products, we go too deep into debt to consume goods and services, we mis-judge risks, we mis-calculate probabilities—and we often pay for it dearly. Human welfare has greatly suffered through poor decisions; and differences in general aptitude for judgment and decision-making can stratify societies and lead to economic and social inequalities.
Judgment is defined as the ability to make evaluations, determine relationships, and draw conclusions about the world. Throughout life, humans need to be able to make decisions with sound judgment about a range of topics in order to operate as a social being. Decision making is the process by which someone will choose between multiple alternatives. These two things tie in together: often, bad judgment can lead to bad decisions, which can lead to poor outcomes.
Being able to make good judgments and decisions has been an increasing focus in the fields of psychology and economics. Over the past decades, scholars in the field of judgment and decision making (JDM) have amassed a trove of findings, theories, and prescriptions regarding the processes ordinary people enact when making choices.
This body of knowledge, however, has had little influence on sociology—and sociology has had little impact on JDM scholarship as well. Sociological research on choice emphasizes how features of the social environment shape individual outcomes, but typically not people’s underlying choices or decision processes that may lead to those outcomes.
Course/Module aims:
People make terrible mistakes all the time. We marry the wrong person, governments take misguided military action, corporations spend vast resources on inferior or unwanted products, we go too deep into debt to consume goods and services, we mis-judge risks, we mis-calculate probabilities—and we often pay for it dearly. Human welfare has greatly suffered through poor decisions; and differences in general aptitude for judgment and decision-making can stratify societies and lead to economic and social inequalities.
Judgment is defined as the ability to make evaluations, determine relationships, and draw conclusions about the world. Throughout life, humans need to be able to make decisions with sound judgment about a range of topics in order to operate as a social being. Decision making is the process by which someone will choose between multiple alternatives. These two things tie in together: often, bad judgment can lead to bad decisions, which can lead to poor outcomes.
Being able to make good judgments and decisions has been an increasing focus in the fields of psychology and economics. Over the past decades, scholars in the field of judgment and decision making (JDM) have amassed a trove of findings, theories, and prescriptions regarding the processes ordinary people enact when making choices.
This body of knowledge, however, has had little influence on sociology—and sociology has had little impact on JDM scholarship as well. Sociological research on choice emphasizes how features of the social environment shape individual outcomes, but typically not people’s underlying choices or decision processes that may lead to those outcomes.
Learning outcomes - On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:
To be able to understand how society influences individual decisions and behavior.
To find links between psychology and sociology.
Attendance requirements(%):
10
Teaching arrangement and method of instruction:
In-person
Course/Module Content:
Week 1: Introduction
Week 2: What is JDM? And its Psychological Roots
Week 3: The Subconscious
Week 4: Dual-Process Models
Week 5: Economic Rationality and the Behavioralist Turn
Week 6: Bridging Psychology & Sociology
Week 7: The Sociology of the Mind & Perception
Week 8: The Social Gates of Consciousness & Meaning
Week 9: Categories and Schemas
Week 10: Culture & Cognition
Week 11: Dispositions, Field + Habitus
Week 12: Consumer Choice
Week 13: Relational Considerations
Week 14: The Technological Mediation of Choice
Required Reading:
Weekly readings will be made available online as .pdf files on the course website (see Moodle).
Additional Reading Material:
Additional reading materials will be made available online as .pdf files on the course website (see Moodle).
Grading Scheme :
Written / Oral / Practical Exam 10 %
Essay / Project / Final Assignment / Home Exam / Referat 40 %
Presentation / Poster Presentation / Lecture/ Seminar / Pro-seminar / Research proposal 50 %
Additional information:
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