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Assignment # 3
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.
