Instructor

I hold a master's degree in mathematics and a doctoral degree in mathematical psychology from the University of Michigan. My current research interests lie in the psychology of individual decision making as a basis for aiding decision making. Research topics include consumers' use of recommender systems, judgments of uncertainty, reactions to the use of AI in clinical decisions,  mobile decision aids, and auction behavior. My teaching interests relate to how decisions are made and to techniques for improving our decision making. 

Shawn Curley
Professor
Department of Information and Decision Sciences
Carlson School of Management

E-Mail:  curley@umn.edu
Office:  3-388 csom
Office Hours:  Mon 12:30 - 1:00 pm & by appointment (in person or zoom)
Campus Mail:  3-365 csom

Course Description

Mon 10:00 am - 12:30 pm
HMH 2-250

How do we go about making choices and the judgments on which they are based? What are some of the biases to which we are prone in making choices and judgments, and how do they arise? Can we improve upon our decision practices? Questions like these motivate and frame research in behavioral decision theory and its close cousin, behavioral economics, that focuses on decisions involving money.

A large portion of the covered research can be conceptualized as arising from origins in normative decision theory, i.e., theory about how decisions should be made. Normative decision theory represents decision making in terms of preferences over consequences and beliefs about possible events. In order to put this theory into practice, several descriptive components must come from the decision makers: their values and preferences, their judgments concerning the possible outcomes, and the goals/factors/actions that comprise the decision structure--the relevant elements for making the decision. Behavioral decision theory is interested in these descriptive components, the cognitive processes by which they arise and affect choice, and biases that can result.

The course is a graduate-level treatment of topics in decision theory from a behavioral perspective. The course will be primarily in seminar format. We will use our class time to discuss journal articles and chapters on selected topics.  We will look at both traditional and current research in the field to understand and integrate some of the major models and methodologies employed in the field of behavioral decision theory. The course covers models and issues of preference, judgment, and uncertainty.