Human Reasoning and Decision Making

Academic year 2011-12

Date last modified

23-4-2012 1:29

Period

Period 1

Startdate:

05-Sep-11

Enddate:

28-Oct-11

Code

SSC3010

ECTS credits

5.0

Organisational unit

University College Maastricht

Coordinator

M.A.J.F. Heins

Description

• To help students acquire knowledge of recent (psychological) theories in the field of reasoning and decision making. • To provide an insight into the role of cognitive processes, various forms of human reasoning and decision making. • To further explore one or more of the topics in the psychology (chosen by the student) of thought and decision making in more dedail via the (fictional) interview paper.

Goals

The present course is concerned with theoretical (psychological) and empirical perspectives on human reasoning and decision making. Reasoning involves making deductive or inductive inferences and judging them according to current goals, beliefs and knowledge. Decision making refers to choosing between alternatives (e.g. different mental models) that based on our ability to reason guide our actions. Both topics are of central importance to humans and even though some seem to reason better than others or their decisions seem more sound, thinking remains an important and for some uniquely human feature. Studying humans thought (both reasoning and decision making) belongs to the field of Cognitive Psychology. Like most topics studied by psychologists, both reasoning and decision making are surrounded by a wide range of explanatory models that each puts emphasis on different aspects of human thought.

Instruction language

Prerequisites

SSC1005 Introduction to Psychology and at least two 200 level courses.

Recommended literature

• Johnson-Laird, P.N. (2006). How we reason. Oxford, NY: Oxford University Press.

Teaching methods

PBL
PRESENTATION(S)
LECTURE(S)
ASSIGNMENT(S)
PAPER(S)

Assessment methods

FINAL PAPER
ATTENDANCE
PARTICIPATION
WRITTEN EXAM
ORAL EXAM
TAKE HOME EXAM

Key words