Dieses Open-Access-Buch zur Consumer Decision Neuroscience verfolgt das Ziel, durch die Integration neurowissenschaftlicher Methoden in die Kaufer- und Konsumentenverhaltensforschung die Identifikation verhaltensrelevanter, neurophysiologischer Variablen zu ermoeglichen, um darauf aufbauend eine Theorieerweiterung zu schaffen. In ausgewahlten Beitragen werden Kaufer- und Konsumentenentscheidungsprozesse anhand verschiedener methodischer, neurowissenschaftlich fundierter Herangehensweisen empirisch untersucht, um die Entscheidungsprozesse umfassend beschreiben, effektiver unterstutzen und erfolgreich vorhersagen zu koennen.

What if our ability to make decisions was more a matter of chance than a rational process? It has long been recognized that the mind decides, the body obeys. However, as the author of this book argues, in reality it might just be the opposite. The decision-making process is produced by cerebral matter. It is a random phenomenon that results from competing processes within a network whose architecture has changed little since the first vertebrates. This book presents a 'bottom-up' approach to understanding decision making, starting from the fundamental question: what are the basic properties that a neural network of decision making needs to possess? Combining data drawn from phylogeny and physiology, the book provides a general framework for the neurobiology of decision-making in vertebrates, and explains how it evolved from the lamprey to the apes. It also looks at the consequences of such a framework: how it impacts our capacity for reasoning, and considers some aspects of the pathophysiology of higher brain functions. It ends with an open discussion of more philosophical concepts such as the nature of Free-will. Written in a lively and accessible style, the book presents an exciting perspective on understanding decision making.

The information in this book will provide board members with simple tools to become an effective member of the board, even in the first term. Board members are introduced to Values Governance (R) system that incorporates community process techniques, curricular, and instructional innovations. This new model provides greater efficiency, effectiveness, and coherence in the governance of the board. With the completion of this survival guide, the new board member is ready to join the board with some skills in hand.

Die aus dem Zusammentreffen von stagnierenden Bildungsbudgets und tendenziell weiter steigenden Anforderungen an die Bildungssysteme entstandene Verscharfung der finanziellen Engpasssituation hat die Frage nach dem optimalen Einsatz der zur Verfugung stehenden Mittel immer dringender werden lassen. Ihr galt das Hauptaugenmerk einer internationalen bildungsoekonomischen Fachtagung, die im September 1999 am Deutschen Institut fur Internationale Padagogische Forschung (DIPF) in Frankfurt am Main stattfand. Die dort prasentierten Beitrage sind in diesem Band dokumentiert. Das thematische Spektrum reicht von Situationsbeschreibungen und -analysen (z.B. zur Produktivitatsentwicklung im Schulbereich) uber steuerungstheoretische Abhandlungen und die Evaluation neuer Steuerungskonzepte bis hin zu Problemen der Verbesserung der bildungsfinanzstatistischen Datenbasis und Erfahrungen mit Optimierungsmodellen bei der Schulstandortplanung. Der Band richtet sich an Interessenten aus Bildungspolitik, Bildungsverwaltung, Wirtschafts- und Erziehungswissenschaften.

Amazingly, the complexities of voting theory can be explained and resolved with comfortable geometry. A geometry which unifies such seemingly disparate topics as manipulation, monotonicity, and even the apportionment issues of the US Supreme Court. Although directed mainly toward students and others wishing to learn about voting, experts will discover here many previously unpublished results. As an example, a new profile decomposition quickly resolves the age-old controversies of Condorcet and Borda, demonstrates that the rankings of pairwise and other methods differ because they rely on different information, casts serious doubt on the reliability of a Condorcet winner as a standard for the field, makes the famous Arrow's Theorem predictable, and simplifies the construction of examples.

It is widely held that Bayesian decision theory is the final word on how a rational person should make decisions. However, Leonard Savage--the inventor of Bayesian decision theory--argued that it would be ridiculous to use his theory outside the kind of small world in which it is always possible to "look before you leap." If taken seriously, this view makes Bayesian decision theory inappropriate for the large worlds of scientific discovery and macroeconomic enterprise. When is it correct to use Bayesian decision theory--and when does it need to be modified? Using a minimum of mathematics, "Rational Decisions" clearly explains the foundations of Bayesian decision theory and shows why Savage restricted the theory's application to small worlds.

The book is a wide-ranging exploration of standard theories of choice and belief under risk and uncertainty. Ken Binmore discusses the various philosophical attitudes related to the nature of probability and offers resolutions to paradoxes believed to hinder further progress. In arguing that the Bayesian approach to knowledge is inadequate in a large world, Binmore proposes an extension to Bayesian decision theory--allowing the idea of a mixed strategy in game theory to be expanded to a larger set of what Binmore refers to as "muddled" strategies.

Written by one of the world's leading game theorists, "Rational Decisions" is the touchstone for anyone needing a concise, accessible, and expert view on Bayesian decision making.

There is no shortage of books on decision making-books that tell you how irrational you are, how being rational is holding you back or how competing brain systems cause chaos with your ability to choose wisely. All of these make it difficult to decide how to decide. DECIDE cuts through the clutter. Part science and part practice, DECIDE follows Tremaine's decade long quest to answer the question: what is a good decision and how do I make one? The answer is illustrated with examples from her pioneering work in building decision-making systems for teams up to large multinational organisations. Tremaine's straight talk and use of the latest (and most reliable) research lead you on a path of discovery as you unpack your own decision-making process, plug the holes in it and learn new skills to ensure that you make the best possible decisions. DECIDE is an indispensable guide for individuals, teams and leaders.

This innovative textbook makes the tools and applications of game theory and strategic reasoning both fascinating and easy to understand. Each chapter focuses a specific strategic situation as a way of introducing core concepts informally at first, then more fully, with a minimum of mathematics. At the heart of the book is a diverse collection of strategic scenarios, not only from business and politics, but from history, fiction, sports, and everyday life as well. With this approach, students don't just learn clever answers to puzzles, but instead acquire genuine insights into human behaviour. Written for major courses in economics, business, political science, and international relations, this textbook is accessible to students across the undergraduate spectrum.

Braucht die Schule objektivierte Tests? Die Leistungstests der 70er Jahre sind durch die Oberstufenreform und die veranderten curricularen Voraussetzungen groesstenteils uberholt. Andererseits treten Tests als Mittel der Lernfoerderung durch Sprachstandsdiagnose zunehmend in den Vordergrund. Die Arbeit stellt die Entwicklung eines lernzielbezogenen Grammatiktests vor, der auf den Vorgaben der Richtlinien fur die Sekundarstufe 1 beruht. Vor diesem Hintergrund werden die Schwierigkeiten der Integration von Haupt- und Realschulern, die mit qualifiziertem Abschluss in die gymnasiale Oberstufe wechseln, dargestellt. Allein in Nordrhein-Westfalen sind dies jedes Jahr mehr als 8000 Schuler. In der vorliegenden Schrift werden erstmals die unterschiedlichen Voraussetzungen empirisch evaluiert und die Moeglichkeiten zur Lernfoerderung auf der Basis einer Diagnose aufgezeigt.

Behavioural studies have shown that while humans may be the best decision makers on the planet, we are not quite as good as we think we are. We are regularly subject to biases, inconsistencies and irrationalities in our decision making. Decision Behaviour, Analysis and Support, published in 2009, explores perspectives from many different disciplines to show how we can help decision makers to deliberate and make better decisions. It considers both the use of computers and databases to support decisions as well as human aids to building analyses and some fast and frugal tricks to aid more consistent decision making. In its exploration of decision support it draws together results and observations from decision theory, behavioural and psychological studies, artificial intelligence and information systems, philosophy, operational research and organisational studies. This provides a valuable resource for managers with decision-making responsibilities and students from a range of disciplines, including management, engineering and information systems.

Brian Hedden defends a radical view about the relationship between rationality, personal identity, and time. On the standard view, personal identity over time plays a central role in thinking about rationality. This is because, on the standard view, there are rational norms for how a person's attitudes and actions at one time should fit with her attitudes and actions at other times, norms that apply within a person but not across persons. But these norms are problematic. They make what you rationally ought to believe or do depend on facts about your past that aren't part of your current perspective on the world, and they make rationality depend on controversial, murky metaphysical facts about what binds different instantaneous snapshots (or 'time-slices') into a single person extended in time. Hedden takes a different approach, treating the relationship between different time-slices of the same person as no different from the relationship between different people. For purposes of rational evaluation, a temporally extended person is akin to a group of people. The locus of rationality is the time-slice rather than the temporally extended agent. Taking an impersonal, time-slice-centric approach to rationality yields a unified approach to the rationality of beliefs, preferences, and actions where what rationality demands of you is solely determined by your evidence, with no special weight given to your past beliefs or actions.