Decision Theory I

Catalog description

Research on decision theory resides in a variety of disciplines including computer science, economics, game theory, philosophy, and psychology. This course attempts to integrate these various approaches. The course is taught jointly by faculty from Game Theory and Computer Science. The course covers several areas: (1) basic decision theory. This theory, sometimes known as "rational choice theory," is part of the foundation for the disciplines listed above. It applies to decisions made by individuals or by machines; (2) the limitations of and problems with this theory. Issues discussed here include decision theory paradoxes revealed by experiments, cognitive and knowledge limitations, and computational issues; (3) new research designed in response to these difficulties. Issues covered include alternative approaches to the foundations of decision theory, adaptive behavior and shaping the individual decisions by aggregate/evolutionary forces and more computationally based approaches.