What Is a Good Decision?

Gain a deeper awareness of how you make decisions, and what steps you can take to make better ones, improving both your financial future and your overall happiness.

Behavioral economics is the study of decision making, and of the related themes of valuation, exchange, and interpersonal interactions. Using methods from psychology, sociology, neurology, and economics, behavioral economics sheds light on one of the most fundamental activities of human life: the decision process. In 24 insightful lectures, you’ll learn how behavioral economists look at decision making and explore a set of key principles that offer deep insight into how we evaluate information and integrate different factors to make decisions. Most important, using real-life illustrations and case studies, each lecture offers practical tools, so that you can understand the patterns of decision making, the purposes they serve, and how to use your knowledge to make better and more satisfying decisions. In grasping the underlying factors in decision making, you’ll explore key topics such as decisions regarding probability, time-related decisions, managing risk, high-stakes medical decisions, and group decision making. Professor Huettel illustrates each concept with meaningful examples, analogies, and case studies, relating the material directly to the decisions all of us make as a central part of living. This unique course gives you essential knowledge and insights for one of life’s most important skills.

01: What Is a Good Decision?

Duration: 32 min

Begin by examining “rational choice” models of decision making from traditional economics, which assume consistent, foresighted, and self-interested decision makers. Then consider how this concept fails to explain many human decisions that appear counterintuitive or paradoxical. Identify two fundamental limitations that challenge our decision-making process.

02: The Rise of Behavioral Economics

Duration: 29 min

Grasp how behavioral economics uses methods from both economics and psychology to better understand biases and anomalies in decision making-factors that “rational choice” models don’t explain. Learn three core experimental principles of behavioral economics, and about Prospect Theory, which helps explain what human beings value.

03: Reference Dependence-It’s All Relative

Duration: 29 min

The element of “value” lies at the heart of decision making. Explore the nature of value and the roles of both pleasure and “benefit” in human choices. Then study the neurobiology of decision making and the ways in which the neurotransmitter dopamine creates expectations and activates reward seeking or “wanting,” an integral factor in our behavior.

04: Reference Dependence-Economic Implications

Duration: 28 min

“Reference dependence” is one of the most central concepts in behavioral economics. Learn how human beings use value to create an expectation or reference point in many decision-making situations, leading to biases that affect choices. Consider how these biases influence both individual and market behavior, and how understanding them can help us make better decisions.

05: Range Effects-Changing the Scale

Duration: 29 min

The principle of “range effects” describes how the relative difference between two quantities becomes less meaningful as the absolute values of those quantities get larger. Grasp how this phenomenon explains apparent inconsistencies in human behavior, and how its existence is linked to our biology. Learn specific steps you can take to minimize its unwanted influence on your decisions.

06: Probability Weighting

Duration: 29 min

“Probability weighting” describes how people tend to convert objective information about probability into a subjective sense of what may happen-which can lead to bias and error. Observe how this applies to real-life situations such as buying life or travel insurance, and learn two tools to change how you deal with probabilities.

07: Risk-The Known Unknowns

Duration: 29 min

Tolerance for risk is another fundamental element of decision making. Learn how behavioral economics evaluates “risk aversion” and “risk seeking” in both economic and personal contexts, and grasp the role of perceived benefits and perceived risks in explaining risk-taking behavior and choices. Finally, study two basic principles for managing risk.

08: Ambiguity-The Unknown Unknowns

Duration: 28 min

In behavioral economics, “ambiguity” refers to conditions in decision making in which we do not know and cannot estimate the probabilities of potential outcomes. Here, investigate three circumstances in decision making that produce ambiguity: “hidden information,” “asymmetrical knowledge,” and “unfamiliar contexts.” Then, learn a two-step approach for dealing effectively with ambiguity.

09: Temporal Discounting-Now or Later?

Duration: 29 min

Now consider a fundamental challenge in decisions involving time: temporal discounting, or the human tendency to view rewards as worth less in the future than they are in the present. Study real-life examples of this phenomenon, three explanations for why it occurs, and key approaches to making better time-related decisions.

10: Comparison-Apples and Oranges

Duration: 28 min

This lecture explores how people create and compare the subjective values of different options in order to make a decision. Review substantial evidence indicating that our brains construct subjective value at the moment of a decision; then look at ways to use this process of active construction to your advantage.

11: Bounded Rationality-Knowing Your Limits

Duration: 30 min

The concept of “bounded rationality” describes human behavior regarding complex decisions. Using the example of purchasing a car, observe how our brains naturally narrow options and judge alternatives, creating simple rules to make complexity manageable. Learn also about “unconscious decision making” and surprising data suggesting that active deliberation can often impede good decisions.

12: Heuristics and Biases

Duration: 31 min

Behavioral economics defines “heuristics” as internal rules or tools that people use to optimize decision making. Explore four of the most commonly used heuristics, observable in decisions involving memory, valuation, probabilities, and emotions. Using real-world examples, identify where these tools are helpful, and where they fail.

13: Randomness and Patterns

Duration: 30 min

Here, look into the nature of randomness-situations in which we can’t predict the future from the past-and why it matters for decision making. Study how our brains automatically look for patterns and structure, often “seeing” patterns whether they are present or not, and learn ways to counteract this tendency.

14: How Much Evidence Do We Need?

Duration: 29 min

Study the role of evidence, or “meaningful information,” in decision making and the kinds of mistakes we make with regard to it. Grasp how we tend to overestimate the quality of evidence and to seek evidence that confirms our prior beliefs, and how we can learn to minimize our biases regarding evidence.

15: The Value of Experience

Duration: 30 min

Regarding buying decisions, consider the value we attach to purchasing experiences. Review studies comparing purchases of material goods with experiences, and evidence that purchases of experiences lead to more happiness. Consider the role of memory in the satisfaction related to experiences, and how we can prioritize our buying decisions for greater quality of life.

16: Medical Decision Making

Duration: 31 min

In the high-stakes world of medical decisions, learn how behavioral biases apply to both patients and their physicians. Study three key factors that influence how we make medical decisions. Finally, learn how to apply the principles of behavioral economics to this specific area, so that the process of decision making improves.

17: Social Decisions-Competition and Coordination

Duration: 31 min

Now consider how the decision process changes when we coordinate our decisions with others. In doing so, encounter the elements of game theory, which models interactions during strategic decision making. Study the challenges involved in small group decisions, the role of emotion in their outcomes, and recommendations for navigating interpersonal decisions.

18: Group Decision Making-The Vox Populi

Duration: 30 min

This lecture examines the “wisdom of crowds,” where groups are shown to make better decisions than individuals. Explore why this is so, focusing on the element of diversity, and also where this phenomenon fails. Evaluate the primary factors in good group decisions and how to promote them in a range of contexts.

19: Giving and Helping-Why Altruism?

Duration: 30 min

Why do people act to help others, even when those actions may not be in their own interest? Investigate the nature of altruism and human behavioral biases that affect generosity and charitable giving. Identify how we can use these biases as tools to both encourage giving and make better decisions.

20: Cooperation by Individuals and in Societies

Duration: 31 min

Here, explore why we (and other animals) work together for mutual gain, and what kinds of interactions lead to cooperative behavior. Observe how cooperation arises through a combination of self-interest, awareness of others’ actions, and social norms, and how it is maintained through practices of punishment and reward.

21: When Incentives Backfire

Duration: 30 min

In certain cases, incentives can backfire, actually discouraging behavior that they’re intended to encourage. Review studies demonstrating this effect in both small-scale interpersonal interactions and large-scale social policies. Identify how external incentives can undermine people’s internal motivations, and study four key guidelines for where incentives work.

22: Precommitment-Setting Rationality Aside

Duration: 30 min

In “precommitment” strategies, we make binding decisions in the present for benefits in the future. Study precommitment in situations such as retirement savings, economic transactions, and organ donation programs. Learn how it works effectively when it is credible and costly, and how we can use it to improve our personal quality of life.

23: Framing-Moving to a Different Perspective

Duration: 29 min

A “framing” effect is a change in people’s decisions when the same objective information is presented in two different ways. Grasp the powerful effects of framing in examples from consumer marketing, investing, and retirement planning. Learn how the framing effect provides a highly potent tool for making good decisions.

24: Interventions, Nudges, and Decisions

Duration: 31 min

Conclude with a look at how leaders and policymakers can shape other people’s decisions. Consider five core approaches to influencing beneficial decisions, and a key policy model that fosters people’s well-being while maintaining their autonomy. Reflect on both ethical concerns about the scientific study of decision making and its real potential to improve lives.