Course Level: Beginner
Format Requirements: The format is lecture – discussion and there are no prerequisites for the course. The morning course, The Psychology of Medical Decision Making I would help in understanding some of the concepts discussed.
Background: The development and refinement of the lens model and the lens model equation have led to many studies of judgment and decision making. In addition, Brunswik’s views of the probabilistic nature of the natural world and reliance of judgment on unreliable and redundant cues has provided a basis for the analysis of medical diagnosis. In the course, we will explain these concepts and show how they can be applied to studies of medical decision making.
Description and Objectives: Egon Brunswik was a pioneering physiologist whose theories have influenced many areas of medical decision making. Unlike his contemporaries, he adopted a probabilistic approach to studying perception and judgment: that judgments are made on the basis of fallible cues resulting in inevitable error and an uncertain environment. Kenneth Hammond and his colleagues applied and extended his theories so that they can be applied successfully to the study of medical judgment and treatment decisions. The course will summarize the major elements of Brunswik’s approach and explain the experimental methods that have been developed by Hammond and colleagues since his death. We will include a discussion of the theories of coherence and correspondence, the development of the lens model and judgment analysis and give an overview of new approaches to modeling judgment such as fast and frugal analysis.
Understand the elements of Brunswik’s probabilistic view of perception and how these have be extended to an understanding of medical judgment.
Learn how the concepts of coherence and correspondence and explain many scientific controversies.
Learn how to conduct a basic lens model study
Understand the components of the lens model equation and how they relate to judgment accuracy
Review the advances that have been made with the applications of judgment analysis and social judgment theory to the study of judgment and decision making.