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Dr Luc Schneider

This course is available on the BSc in Management, BSc in Psychological and Behavioural Science, International Exchange (1 Term) and International Exchange (Full Year). This course is available as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit and to General Course students.

This course has a limited number of places (it is capped). Students who have this course as a compulsory course are guaranteed a place. Places for all other students are allocated on a first come first served basis.

It is an advantage to have taken an introductory social science course in one of these fields: economics, management, psychology or sociology.

It is important to be comfortable with multi-disciplinary research and group work. 

This course introduces students to the foundations of Behavioural Decision Science: the science that explains and predicts how humans make decisions (the decision ‘process’) and how well (the decision ‘outcome’).  The course will explore the different stages of the decision-making process identifying factors important in understanding our decision making.  Students will be introduced to the concepts of framing, explore the way in which we make judgements, understand the rich and diverse influences of risk, uncertainty and affect (emotions), and investigate strategies for decision making.  Throughout the course, students will be introduced to many cognitive biases and aspects of context which influence how/what judgements and decisions we make. In the final portion of the course, student will get the opportunity to see examples of how information/choice designers are seeking to help or influence decision makers or teach skills to help the public or professionals to make better decisions themselves.  Many of these concepts and techniques can, and have been applied across personal, professional and policy situations – and the course will provide opportunities to learn about and discuss such applications.   Importantly, across both parts of the course, discussion of core concepts and examples will be woven together with new advances and applications in the field, particularly those within the course leader’s field of expertise.

The course is entirely seminar-based, and will combine within the sessions - traditional lecture-style teaching of concepts with hands-on demonstrations of the concepts in action, and in depth class discussions of the week’s material. Examples used within the sessions will be drawn from across a range of different domains which could include managerial, policy, health, emergency response, law, consumer, and even personal domains.

By the end of this course, students will have an understanding of the key concepts in Behavioural Decision Science, be able to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of human decision making, and be able to recognise and adapt different techniques to improve decision making. The summative will provide an opportunity to show the skills and knowledge you have learnt throughout the course and consists of two parts which are described below.

Teaching hours in the WT will be commensurate with a usual half unit undergraduate course.

This course includes a reading week in Week 6, in line with departmental policy.

1. Thought piece (Week 4): Students will write a short thought piece (500 words) on a topic of their choice from weeks 1 to 3, placing it in a context that goes beyond the content covered in lectures. This exercise may later be used as the basis for the summative essay.

2. Review of anonymous essays (Week 11): Students will play the role of the “examiner” and using anonymous examples of summative assessments (submitted by students from a previous year) explore the different evaluation criteria which are used in this course. This exercise will help you improve your summative assessment.

Bazerman, M. (2017) Judgment in Managerial Decision Making. New York: Wiley. 8th edition;

Hastie, R., and Dawes, R.M.  (2001). Rational Choice in an Uncertain World. Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks;

Kahneman, D. (2011) Thinking Fast and Slow. London: Allen Lane;

Russo, J. E. & Schoemaker, P. J. H. (2002) Winning decisions: How to make the right decision the first time, Piatkus Publ. Limited.

Coursework (70%, 2000 words) in the ST.
Group presentation (30%) in the WT Week 10.

Presentation: Starting in week 5, as a group, you will be analysing a real decision by one of your group members and apply the practical insights from the course to improve this decision. Each week, you will work on a different step of the Decision-Making process, and you will fill in a Decision Canvas (template will be provided). You will then present your work in week 10. For this part of the summative, you will be marked on the delivery of your presentation, as well as on the content of the slides that you will have submitted on Moodle prior to your presentation.

This part of the summative will count for 30% of your grade. For this, you will not need to provide academic references.

Coursework (due beginning of ST): The summative assessment will be an in-depth Scholarly Essay (no more than 2000 words). You will choose a topic from within MG311, which you as a developing scholar has found interesting or important and write your in-depth essay on it. This essay should be done in a scholarly and rigorous manner making reference to behavioural literature, theories, and concepts.

The essay will count for 70% of your grade. You will be required to provide full essay-style referencing.