Thinking and Deciding

Description

Beginning with its first edition and through subsequent editions, Thinking and Deciding has established itself as the required text and important reference work for students and scholars of human cognition and rationality. In this fourth edition, first published in 2007, Jonathan Baron retains the comprehensive attention to the key questions addressed in the previous editions - how should we think? What, if anything, keeps us from thinking that way? How can we improve our thinking and decision making? - and his expanded treatment of topics such as risk, utilitarianism, Baye's theorem, and moral thinking. With the student in mind, the fourth edition emphasises the development of an understanding of the fundamental concepts in judgement and decision making. This book is essential reading for students and scholars in judgement and decision making and related fields, including psychology, economics, law, medicine, and business.

Jonathan Baron is Professor of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. Baron's research is based on the utilitarian idea that society should be organized to do the most good (or to maximize utility). Some of his research examines people's intuitive principles for decision-making and moral judgement, and explores how these principles can stand in the way of doing the most good. Baron is the author of Rationality and Intelligence (1985); Thinking and Deciding (1988, 1994, 2000), a widely used textbook for advanced undergraduates and beyond; Morality and Rational Choice (1993), Judgement Misguided: Intuition and Error in Public Decision Making (1998); and Against Bioethics (2006). He has also co-edited three books and published over 175 papers and chapters. He is the editor of the new journal Judgement and Decision Making, and he is currently president of the Society for Judgement and Decision Making. He holds a BA from Harvard and a PhD from Michigan and is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and of the American Psychological Society. He attempts to play tennis and classical guitar.

'This magisterial book ... lays out the issues in exemplary fashion ... This book is as balanced and clear as one is likely to find. It is an outstanding introduction to and summary of the psychology of decision making and should be widely read.' Medical Decision Making 'This volume represents an impressive textbook that is worthy of consideration in courses on thinking and decision making. ... Well written and well produced.' Contemporary Psychology '... An impressively broad and serious guide to the psychology of thinking and deciding.' Choice