Decisions
Studying and Supporting People Facing Hard Choices
Published on 14. October 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
214 pages
978-0-262-55316-2 (ISBN)
Description
A lively, authoritative insider’s account of how we make decisions and how decision-making research has developed over the last half century.
Decisions describes the evolution of decision science (also called behavioral decision research and related to behavioral economics) through its application to challenging personal and public policy decisions, since the inception of the field.
Baruch Fischhoff covers all major topics in basic research, including how people create options, determine what matters to them, evaluate their chances of achieving those goals, and engage their emotions. He shows how those processes play out in an exceptionally wide variety of decisions regarding health, safety, the environment, disasters, and national security, among other topics. He also examines how decision-making abilities vary across individuals and across the lifespan, as well as the ethics and politics of how research is conducted and its results are shared and applied.
Decisions describes the evolution of decision science (also called behavioral decision research and related to behavioral economics) through its application to challenging personal and public policy decisions, since the inception of the field.
Baruch Fischhoff covers all major topics in basic research, including how people create options, determine what matters to them, evaluate their chances of achieving those goals, and engage their emotions. He shows how those processes play out in an exceptionally wide variety of decisions regarding health, safety, the environment, disasters, and national security, among other topics. He also examines how decision-making abilities vary across individuals and across the lifespan, as well as the ethics and politics of how research is conducted and its results are shared and applied.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge (Massachusetts)
United States
Publishing group
MIT Press Ltd
Illustrations
2 BLACK AND WHITE ILLUS.
Dimensions
Height: 226 mm
Width: 153 mm
Thickness: 18 mm
Weight
278 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-262-55316-2 (9780262553162)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
10/2025
MIT Press
€38.99
Available for download
Persons
Baruch Fischhoff is an internationally known scientist, studying basic and applied decision making. A long-time faculty member at Carnegie Mellon University, he is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Medicine.
Content
Preface
Acknowledgements
Foreword by Paul Slovic
What Decisions Do People Face?
Chapter 1. Analyzing Decisions: Not as hard as it seems
Chapter 2. The Ethics of Analysis: Once the terms are set, the calculations hardly matter
Chapter 3. What Does Anyone Know? Uncertainty about the present and future
How Do People Interpret Their Decisions?
Chapter 4. What Did Anyone Know: Hindsight bias and vanishing uncertainty about the past
Chapter 5. How Much Do We Need to Know: Getting the facts that matter
Chapter 6. Knowing What You Can Get: Judging risks and benefits
Chapter 7. Knowing What You Want: Facing hard tradeoffs
Chapter 8. Decision Making Competence: Are some people better decision makers?
How Can Science Support Their Decision Making?
Chapter 9. Giving Advice: A case study of its perils
Chapter 10. Making Research Useful: Nuclear power, energy conservation, climate change, drug regulation, national security
Chapter 11. Better Decisions: Empowerment and manipulation
Chapter 12. Conclusion: Science at the boundaries
Coda: The Pandemic of 2020+
Acknowledgements
Foreword by Paul Slovic
What Decisions Do People Face?
Chapter 1. Analyzing Decisions: Not as hard as it seems
Chapter 2. The Ethics of Analysis: Once the terms are set, the calculations hardly matter
Chapter 3. What Does Anyone Know? Uncertainty about the present and future
How Do People Interpret Their Decisions?
Chapter 4. What Did Anyone Know: Hindsight bias and vanishing uncertainty about the past
Chapter 5. How Much Do We Need to Know: Getting the facts that matter
Chapter 6. Knowing What You Can Get: Judging risks and benefits
Chapter 7. Knowing What You Want: Facing hard tradeoffs
Chapter 8. Decision Making Competence: Are some people better decision makers?
How Can Science Support Their Decision Making?
Chapter 9. Giving Advice: A case study of its perils
Chapter 10. Making Research Useful: Nuclear power, energy conservation, climate change, drug regulation, national security
Chapter 11. Better Decisions: Empowerment and manipulation
Chapter 12. Conclusion: Science at the boundaries
Coda: The Pandemic of 2020+