Social Judgment and Decision-Making | CU Experts

Abstract; This chapter reviews the development of the field of judgment and decision-making (JDM), paralleling its emergence with the growing field of evolutionary psychology. JDM work has historically focused on a narrow range of research topics with restricted theoretical models and few applications to daily social life. This chapter argues for enriching the field by incorporating principles aimed at developing a holistic theory of social JDM that complements current research designed to refute rational blank-slate theories. Evolutionary psychology, which posits that human psychological processes are adapted to ancestral environments by natural selection, can provide a framework through which to accomplish this, and social cognition can inspire fruitful domains to focus research. This review summarizes the major themes of JDM, outlines a path forward for social JDM with natural selection as a unifying theory and attentional processes as a foundation for theoretical development, and issues a call to emphasize ecological design.

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