Decision theory: general Books

Book Synopsis'An endlessly fascinating tour of the many different factors influencing our decision-making and reasoning' David Robson, author of The Expectation Effect'An eye-opening and engaging richness of information that gives us a detailed insight into the strengths and weaknesses of human behaviour' Melissa Hogenboom, author of The Motherhood ComplexDo emotions really cloud your thinking? Are habits holding you back? Is AI manipulating your mind? Does IQ help you think better?Every one of our thoughts, actions, moods and decisions is shaped by a whole array of factors, most of which we don't pay any attention to. From culture, time and language to genetics, technology and the microorganisms living inside us - even our own unconscious routines and habits - it's clear that we aren't always in the driving seat.The good news is that by better understanding the external and internal forces at work, we can minimise their impact on our lives. Drawing on rigorous interdisciplinary research, leading science journalists Miriam Frankel and Matt Warren bring us extraordinary stories and studies that open our eyes to the inner workings of the mind, challenge our thought processes and improve our decision-making. Most of all, Are You Thinking Clearly? is a rallying cry to know yourself, think broadly, think boldly - and to listen.'Essential reading for anyone who wants to understand why their beliefs, mistakes, emotions and intuitions are the way they are' Richard Gray, BBC FutureTrade ReviewAn endlessly fascinating tour of the many different factors influencing our decision-making and reasoning . . . This book is sure to appeal to anyone who wishes to make the most of their mind -- David Robson, author of The Expectation EffectAn eye-opening and engaging richness of information that gives us a detailed insight into the strengths and weaknesses of human behaviour . . . This book will help you understand your own mind better, and teach you how to overcome some of the gaps in your thinking -- Melissa Hogenboom, author of The Motherhood ComplexAll who read this fascinating book will gain helpful insights into their biases - and those of others -- Martin Rees, Astronomer RoyalEssential reading for anyone who wants to understand why their beliefs, mistakes, emotions and intuitions are the way they are * BBC Future *

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Book SynopsisThis introduction to critical thinking focuses on an integrated, universal concept of critical thinking that is both substantive and practical. It provides students with the basic intellectual skills they need to think through content in any class, subject, or discipline, and through any problems or issues they face. Now available from Rowman & Littlefield, Richard Paul and Linda Elder's Critical Thinking: Learn the Tools the Best Thinkers Use focuses on the most basic critical thinking concepts. It includes activities that allow readers to apply these concepts within disciplines and to life. An added feature to this brief book is a focus on close reading and substantive writing.Content highlights include: Think for Yourself activities Discovering the parts of thinking and the standards for thinking Learning to formulate clear and substantive questions Making the design of a course work for you Close reading and substantive writing Becoming a fairminded thinker Trade ReviewThis book is well-written, lucid and contains abundant examples and applications that not only enliven the subject matter but present relevant contexts for building understanding and advanced critical thinking. In addition, it is faithful to the complexity and work required to improve one's thinking. It does not soft-pedal the challenge but actually throws down the gauntlet to the worthy reader to pick it up. -- Stephen J. Knopp, Ohio UniversityThis concise version is a comprehensive and robust textbook Many Critical Thinking books cover thinking from a narrow angle, but Paul and Elder offer a model of critical thinking that can be applied not only to academic disciplines but also to life in general. -- Connie Wolfe, Surry Community CollegeTable of ContentsIntroduction: A Start-up Definition of Critical Thinking.1. How the Mind Can Discover Itself2. Discover The Parts of Thinking3. Discover Universal Standards for Thinking4. Redefining Grades as Levels of Thinking and Learning5. Learn to Ask the Questions the Best Thinkers Ask6. Discover How the Best Thinkers Learn7. Learn How to Read Closely and Write SubstantivelyPart I: Discover Close ReadingPart II: Discover Substantive WritingPart III: Practice Close Reading and Substantive Writing8. Become a Fairminded Thinker9. Deal with Your Irrational MindPart I: The Best Thinkers Take Charge of Their Egocentric NaturePart II: The Best Thinkers Take Charge of Their Sociocentric Thinking10. The Stages of Critical Thinking Development: At What Stage Are You?Appendix A: Further Exercises in Close Reading and Substantive WritingAppendix B: Sample Analyses of “The Logic of . . .”Appendix C: What We Mean By “The Best Thinkers?”Glossary

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Book SynopsisA practical, non--calculus--based book on decision analysis for business and public policy. It includes a balanced presentation of quantitative and qualitative techniques, and integrates the use of a leading decision analysis software----DPL----throughout.Table of ContentsThe Context of Decision Making. Problem Definition and Structuring. Identifying Objectives and Creating a Value Tree. Identifying Alternatives and Creativity. Forecasting and Subjective Assessment. Comparing Alternatives and Utility Theory. Selection and Sensitivity Analysis. Appendices. Index.

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Book SynopsisThe first international handbook to bring the areas of reasoning, judgment and decision making together, now in paperback format. The book brings three of the important topics of thinking together - reasoning, judgment and decision making - and discusses key issues in each area.Trade Review“…presents a variety of stimulating and informative chapters which are representative of topical issues and debates in the area...” (Applied Cognitive Psychology, No.18, 2004)Table of ContentsList of Contributors. Introduction. Part I: Reasoning. Chapter 1: A Theory of Hypothetical Thinking (Jonathan St. B.T.Evans, David E. Over and Simon J. Handley). Chapter 2: Individual Differences in the Development ofReasoning Strategies (Maxwell J. Roberts and Elizabeth J.Newton). Chapter 3: Generalising Individual Differences and StrategiesAcross Different Deductive Reasoning Domains (Padraic Monaghan andKeith Stenning). Chapter 4: Superordinate Principles, Conditions and Conditionals(Neil Fairley and Ken Manktelow). Chapter 5: Premise Interpretation in Conditional Reasoning (GuyPolitzer). Chapter 6: Probabilities and Pragmatics in ConditionalInference: Suppression and Order Effects (Mike Oaksford and NickChater). Part II: Judgment. Chapter 7: Verbal Expressions of Uncertainty and Probability(Karl Halvor Teigen and Wibecke Brun). Chapter 8: Possibilities and Probabilities (Paolo Legrenzi,Vittorio Girotto, Maria Sonino Legrenzi and Philip N.Johnson-Laird). Chapter 9: The Partitive Conditional Probability (LauraMacchi). Chapter 10: Naive and yet Enlightened: From Natural Frequenciesto Fast and Frugal Decision Trees (Laura Martignon, Oliver Vitouch,Masanori Takezawa and Malcolm R. Forster). Chapter 11: More is not Always Better: The Benefits of CognitiveLimits (Ralph Hertwig and Peter M. Todd). Chapter 12: Correspondence and Coherence: Indicators of GoodJudgment in World Politics (Philip E. Tetlock). Part III: Decision Making. Chapter 13: Cognitive Mapping of Causal Reasoning in StrategicDecision Making (A. John Maule, Gerard P. Hodgkinson and Nicola J.Bown). Chapter 14: Belief and Preference in Decision Under Uncertainty(Craig R. Fox and Kelly E. See). Chapter 15: Medical Decision Scripts: Combining CognitiveScripts and Judgment Strategies to Account Fully for MedicalDecision Making (Robert M. Hamm). Chapter 16: On the Assessment of Decision Quality:Considerations Regarding Utility, Conflict and Accountability(Gideon Keren and W¨andi Bruine de Bruin). Author Index. Subject Index.

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Book SynopsisHow do we determine whose positions count in the making of foreign policy? Does it matter how these policy makers are configured? Does the decision-making process such people engage in influence the type of policy that results? This volume synthesizs the literatures on leadership, group dynamics, organizational theory, and coalition politics to demonstrate how the nature of the decision unity shapes foreign policy. Synthesizes theories on leadership, group dynamics, organizational theory, and coalition politics to demonstrate how the nature of the decision unit shapes foreign policy Authors explore how policymakers'' preferences become aggregated in the foreign policymaking process when there is a predominant leader or there are single groups or coalitions Table of ContentsPreface. Part I: Does Decision Making Matter? Joe D. Hagan. Part II: How Decision Units Shape Foreign Policy: A Theoretical Framework: Margaret G. Hermann. Part III: Who Leads Matters: The Effects of Powerful Individuals: Margaret G. Hermann; Thomas Preston; Baghat Korany; Timothy M. Shaw. Part IV: Resolve, Accept, or Avoid: Effects of Group Conflict on Foreign Policy Decisions: Charles F. Hermann; Janice Gross Stein; Bengt Sundelius; Stephen G. Walker. Part V: Foreign Policy by Coalition: Deadlock, Compromise, and Anarchy: Joe D. Hagan; Philip P. Everts; Haruhiro Fukui; John D. Stempel. Part VI: People and Processes in Foreign Policymaking: Insights from Comparative Case Studies: Ryan K. Beasley; Juliet Kaarbo; Charles F. Hermann; Margaret G. Hermann.

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Book SynopsisUndergraduates do not experience college as having a clear beginning and end. Their engagement with higher education is at best episodic. But as Practice for Life shows, the disruptions provide opportunities for reflection and course-correction as students learn to navigate the future uncertainties of adulthood.Trade ReviewUnlike many books on higher education, Practice for Life doesn’t rely on the usual ways of categorizing the undergraduate experience. The authors examine the most normal—even obvious—features of college life in new and insightful ways, showing how what students actually do in college can be profoundly important to how they live the rest of their lives. A satisfying read. -- Daniel Chambliss, coauthor of How College WorksI read this book first as a college president and then as a parent. In both respects, I found my views challenged as the authors opened up new avenues for thinking about and understanding how students experience college. By focusing on the daily decisions students make, the authors explore the ways college is practice for life and the strategies colleges (and parents) can use to deepen the learning that takes place across campus. -- Adam Weinberg, President, Denison UniversityAt a time when the value of college is a major subject of debate, this book answers the question: what do students really learn in college? The authors convincingly demonstrate that liberal education provides the critical framework needed for students to develop the ability to understand choices and make life-changing decisions. The depth of research reflected in this book, involving hundreds of students interviewed over the course of four years of college, makes it a unique resource for college and university administrators, professors, and students and families who seek to understand the nature of the college experience. -- Alison Byerly, President, Lafayette CollegeThis book…reminds us that a substantial amount of the learning that takes place—perhaps the majority of it—occurs outside of the college classroom. The arguments in this book will remain with me in the coming years in my role as a faculty adviser, or when I am meeting with students in my office hours, or even when I am considering how to invite students to connect more deeply with my courses. -- James M. Lang * Chronicle of Higher Education *[Practice for Life] has been invaluable as a way of thinking about helping my students adjust to college…For those interested in advising students, the vignettes collected here provide much food for thought. -- Jason B. Jones * Chronicle of Higher Education *

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Book SynopsisEngaging Resistance provides a new empirical framework for understanding the nature of resistance to organizational change. This book points the way towards strategies that can be successfully employed by change champions as they work to engage less enthusiastic colleagues.Trade Review"Engaging Resistance meaningfully builds an emergent theory in an engaging style. Anderson grounds his framework well, illustrating how two institutions of higher education overcome resistance to change. The stories of these institutions include exemplary detail, so that students can easily transfer the lessons-learned to other organizational settings. This book makes a welcome addition to the reading list for my Strategies for Institutional Change course."—Sharon F. Rallis, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, author of Learning in the Field: An Introduction to Qualitative Research"In a refreshingly clear voice, Anderson presents powerful ideas on transformational change and resistance in an easy-to-understand format. Engaging Resistance serves as a template that may be used by change agents anywhere who are committed to making a positive difference in for profit, non-profit, and governmental settings."—Jane C. Edmonds, Senior Fellow, Northeastern University College of Professional Studies

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Book SynopsisThis book provides the first systematic comparative cross-national study of school disciplinary climates.Trade Review"Improving Learning Environments is a superb examination of the relationship between school discipline and educational achievement, carried out cooperatively by distinguished scholars who investigate countries on which they are leading authorities. It's a must read for scholars and school reformers alike."—Stephen L. Morgan, Cornell University"This state-of-the-art work addresses the important question of the extent to which school disciplinary environments shape educational outcomes. This new volume will provide policy makers with a much needed empirical basis for the development of effective policies."—Meir Yaish, University of Haifa

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Book SynopsisFor the sake of students, close the empathy gap between the classroom and the front office

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Book SynopsisFeaturing a substantial new introduction and two new chapters in the Postscript, this new edition makes one of the most significant works on power available in paperback and online for the first time. The author extensively engages with a body of new literature to elucidate and expand upon the original work, using rational choice theory to provide: • An examination of how, due to the collective action problem, groups can be powerless despite not facing any resistance • Timely engagement with feminist accounts of power • An explanation of the relationship of structure and agency and how to measure power comparatively across societies This book’s unique interaction with both classical and contemporary debates makes it an essential resource for anyone teaching or studying power in the disciplines of sociology, philosophy, politics or international relations.Table of ContentsIntroduction to the New Edition Part I. THE ORIGINAL TEXT 1. Introduction 2. Rational Choice and a Theory of Action 3. Preferences and Objective Interests 4. Political Power and Bargaining Theory 5. Collective Action and Dimensions of Power 6. State Power Structures 7. Preference Formation, Social Location and Ideology 8. Conclusions Part II. POSTSCRIPT 9. Some Further Thoughts on Power 10. The Nature of the Exercise

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