PSY 355R: Reasoning and Decision Making

Spring 2008

Unique Number 44130: TTh 2:00-3:30pm, SEA 3.250

Click here for a week by week class schedule.

Instructor

Who Office Office Hours email
Art Markman SEA 5.218 Wednesday 1-3
or by appointment		 markman@psy.utexas.edu

Teaching Assistant

Section Who Office Office Hours email
44130 Micah Goldwater

SEA 2.204A

 Tuesday and Thursday
3:30-5:00pm		 micahbg@gmail.com

Prerequisites:

Psychology 301 with a grade of C or better, Psychology 418 or an equivalent listed in the course schedule) with a C or better, and Upper-Division standing (60 hours completed).

Enrollment limitations

Enrollment in this course is limited to 30 students.

Goals

This course is a survey of psychological research on how people reason and make decisions. Reasoning is the ability to go beyond the information given in a situation to figure out what is going on. Decision making is the ability to select a course of action from among a set of possibilities. Understanding how people act helps us to understand fundamental problems in psychology such as whether people tend to act rationally. In addition, understanding how people think and decide in general can make us as individuals better reasoners and decision makers.

Format of classes

This course will meet two times a week for one hour and fifteen minutes. The classes will be a mix of seminar-type discussion, lectures and group projects.

Readings

There will be roughly one paper to read for each class session. I expect you to keep current on the reading to facilitate class discussion. Papers can be downloaded from the course page on the Blackboard system. The readings are a mix of summary articles and primary source readings. It may be slow-going to get through these readings at first, but it is well-worth getting familiar with the style and content of journal articles. Additional readings on any topic are available on request.

Assignments and examinations

Grading in this course is based on performance on weekly reaction papers, two exams, and a long paper.

Weekly Reaction Papers (10% of Grade)

Each week, you are expected to turn in a reaction paper to at least one of the readings for that week. Reaction papers are due at the end of class on Thursday. I recommend writing it before the class when we are scheduled to discuss a particular article, though, so that you have comments in mind to discuss in class. Reaction papers should describe your reactions to the reading. That is, they should not be a summary of what you read. Rather, I'd like your opinions. Is the theory or the studies presented by the authors sufficient to explain what the authors would like to explain? Are there things that are not well explained by the theory presented? Is there other evidence you know about that would suggest a problem with the authors' approach? What do you think are the main advances of the work, or how does it fail to take into account other work. Feel free to draw on your own expertise in other areas of psychology or from other disciplines. If you think a particular theory would be helpful for some problem you have been thinking about, say so. If you felt a particular article was confusing, say that too. I will read your reaction papers each week, and respond to them.

Exams (40% of grade)

There will be two exams in the course. They will be essay exams. One will be in class at the middle of the semester, one will be at the end. The exams are cumulative. The exams will ask questions designed to show that you can integrate your thoughts across the ideas presented during the course.

Long Paper (50% of grade)

The centerpiece of the semester will be a long paper that you will write on a topic of your choosing in the area of reasoning or decision making. I would like you to select an area covered in the class, read about the prevailing theories in that area, and then propose a study that would address the issues you raise. This style of paper is similar to the kinds of fellowship and grant proposals that psychologists often have to write to get funding for their research.

The paper will be written in three stages. At about the 4-week mark of the semester, each student will turn in a two-paragraph summary of the paper they are planning to write. I will read these topic proposals and make comments and suggestions. A first draft of the paper will be due about 5-weeks before the end of the semester. I will read and comment on these drafts. 1/3 of your paper grade will be based on the quality of these drafts. The final version of the paper will be turned in at the final exam. The remaining 2/3 of your paper grade will be based on the final version of the paper.

Policy on missed exams

No make-up exams will be given. If one exam is missed, then with a note from a doctor or a dean, the other exam will count for your exam grade for the semester. In the absence of a note from a doctor or a dean, or if more than one exam is missed, then the missed exams will be entered as a 0 in the computation of your final grade.

Policy on extra credit

I am always on the lookout for good cartoons to use as examples in class. One point toward your final grade will be awarded to any student who brings a cartoon that is relevant to a point discussed in class along with a paragraph describing why it is relevant. Credit for a particular cartoon will be given only to the first student bringing in that cartoon.

Policy on independent of work and plagiarism

You are expected to do all exams individually. If any student is caught cheating on an exam either by copying from someone else or by using outside material, they will be given an F in the course and the matter will be turned over to the appropriate deans.

Policy on students with disabilities.

We will make every effort to accommodate students with disabilities. Students with disabilities must present documentation of their disability from the Office of the Dean of Students--Services for Students with Disabilities as early in the semester as possible in order to facilitate any necessary accommodations. No accommodations will be made for students who do not have documentation from the Dean of Students office.

Week by week class schedule

Powerpoint versions of the lectures can be downloaded by clicking on the right-most column. I recommend printing them out 3 or 6 to a page and bringing them to class to take notes.

Date
Topic
Reading
Assignment
Lecture Notes
January 15 Introduction
January 17 Types of reasoning Markman, A.B., & Gentner, D. (2001). Thinking. Annual Review of Psychology, 52, 223-247 Reaction Paper Due Powerpoint
January 22 Logical Reasoning:
Deduction		 Powerpoint
January 24 Logical Reasoning:
Mental models		 Johnson-Laird, P.N. (2001). Mental models and deduction. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 5(10), 434-442. Reaction Paper Due Powerpoint
January 29 Logical Reasoning: Induction Osherson, D.N., Smith, E.E., Wilkie, O., Lopez, A., Shafir, E. (1990). Category-based induction. Psychological Review, 97(2), 185-200. Powerpoint
January 31 What is causality? Hume, D. (1772). An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. (Excerpt from the chapter on Cause and Effect) Reaction Paper Due Powerpoint
February 5 Causes and explanations Wilson, R.A., & Keil, F.C. (1998). The shadows and shallows of explanations. Minds and Machines, 8, 137-159. Powerpoint
February 7 Reasoning about causes

Kim, N.S., & Ahn, W.K. (2002). Clinical psychologists' theory-based representations of mental disorders predict their diagnostic reasoning and memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 131(4), 451-476.

 Reaction Paper Due Powerpoint
February 12 Scientific reasoning Tweney, R.D. (1998). Toward a cognitive psychology of science: Recent research and its implications. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 7, 5, 150-154. Powerpoint
February 14 Mental models and naive physics

McCloskey, M. (1983). Intuitive physics. Scientific American, 248, 4, 122-130.

 Paper proposal due; Reaction Paper Due Powerpoint
February 19 Analogical Reasoning

Gentner, D., & Markman, A.B. (1997). Structural alignment in analogy and similarity. American Psychologist, 52(1), 45-56.

 Powerpoint
February 21 Analogy and problem solving

Gick, M.L., & Holyoak, K.J. (1980). Analogical problem solving. Cognitive Psychology, 12, 306-355.

 Reaction Paper Due Powerpoint
February 26 Creativity Simonton, D.K. (2000). Creativity: Cognitive, Personal, Develpomental, and Social Aspects. American Psychologist, 55, 151-158. Powerpoint
February 28 Writing No Reaction Paper this week
March 4 Midterm Exam

An copy of an old exam is available here to help you study.

An Answer key for the Spring 08 Midterm.
March 6 Rationality: What does it mean to be rational? Shafir, E. & LeBoeuf, R.A. (2002). Rationality. Annual Review of Psychology, 53, 491-517. No Reaction Paper this week Powerpoint
March 11 and March 13 No Class
Spring Break
March 18 Decision making and economics Markman, A.B., & Medin, D.L. (2001). Decision making. In D.L. Medin & H. Pashler (Eds.) Stevens Handbook of Experimental Psychology (pp. 413-466). New York: John Wiley and Sons. Powerpoint
March 20 Heuristics and biases Kahneman, D. & Tversky, A. (1984). Choices, values, and frames. American Psychology, 39(4), 341-350. Reaction Paper Due Powerpoint
March 25 Heuristics and biases Kahneman, D., Knetsch, J.L., & Thaler, R.H. (1991). Anomalies: The endowment effect, loss aversion and status quo bias. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 5(1), 193-206. Powerpoint
March 27 Mental accounting Shefrin, H.M., & Thaler, R.H. (1992). Mental accounting, saving, and self-control. In G. Loewenstein & J. Elster (Eds.) Choice over time. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. Reaction Paper Due Powerpoint
April 1 Emotion, motivation, and decision making Lowenstein, G.F., Weber, E.U., Hsee, C.K., Welch, N. (2001). Risk as feelings. Psychological Bulletin, 127(2), 267-286. Powerpoint
April 3 Emotion, motivation, and decision making

Markman, A.B., & Brendl, C.M. (2000). The influence of goals on value and choice. The Psychology of Learning and Motivation, 39, 97-129.

 First Draft of Papers Due;
No Reaction Paper This week		 Powerpoint
April 8 More on Writing

April 10 Emotion, motivation, and decision making

Damasio, A.R. (1994). Descartes' error. New York: Bard Books. (Chapters 1-3)

 Reaction Paper Due Powerpoint
April 15 Emotion, motivation, and decision making

Higgins, E. T. (1997). Beyond pleasure and pain. American Psychologist, 52(12), 1280-1300.

 Powerpoint
April 17 Naturalistic decision making Galanter, C.A., & Patel, V.L. (2005). Medical decision making: A selective review for child psychiatrists and psychologists. Journal of Child Psychiatry and Psychology, 46(7), 675-689. Reaction Paper Due Powerpoint
April 22 Protected values Tetlock, P.E. (2003). Thinking the unthinkable: Sacred values and taboo cognitions. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 7(7), 320-324. Powerpoint
April 24 Culture influences on reasoning and decision making Peng, K., & Nisbett, R.E. (1999). Culture dialectics, and reasoning about contradiction. American Psychologist, 54, 741-754. Reaction Paper Due Powerpoint
April 29 Culture influences on reasoning and decision making Kim, K., & Markman, A. B. (2006). Differences in fear of isolation as an explanation of cultural differences: Evidence from memory and reasoning. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 42, 350-364.
 Powerpoint
May 1 Consumer Psychology Loken, B. (2006). Consumer Psychology: Categorization, inferences, affect, and persuasion. Annual Review of Psychology, 57, 453-485. Reaction Paper Due
May 7 Papers due!! Your final papers are due on May 7 by 5pm. Please turn in your final paper draft along with the rough draft. Papers may be turned in to Dr. Markman's mailbox.
May 13
2-5pm		 Final Exam NOA 1.116
    Sample Final Exam

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