Decisions and Algorithms

3 credits · Graduate

This class is for graduate students interested in getting an advanced understanding of judgments and decisions made with predictive algorithms. The course will survey the vast literature on the psychology of how people arrive at judgments and make decisions with the help of statistical information, focused mostly on experimental lab evidence from cognitive and social psychology. Then study the burgeoning evidence on how people use statistical algorithms in practice, exploring field evidence from a range of settings from criminal justice and healthcare to housing and labor markets. Special attention is paid to psychological principles that impact the effectiveness and fairness of algorithms deployed at scale.