Decision theory

For the descriptive application of decision theory to modeling human behavior, see Rational choice models.
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Wagrez's "The Judgement of Paris": Paris, dressed in medieval livery and holding the apple of discord, chats with Athena, Aphrodite, and Hera.
The mythological judgement of Paris required selecting from three incomparable alternatives (the goddesses shown).

Decision theory or the theory of rational choice is a branch of probability, economics, and analytic philosophy that uses the tools of expected utility and probability to model how individuals would behave rationally under uncertainty.[1][2] It differs from the cognitive and behavioral sciences in that it is mainly prescriptive and concerned with identifying optimal decisions for a rational agent, rather than describing how people actually make decisions. Despite this, the field is important to the study of real human behavior by social scientists, as it lays the foundations for the rational agent models used to mathematically model and analyze individuals in fields such as sociology, economics, criminology, cognitive science, and political science.

  1. ^ "Decision theory Definition and meaning". Dictionary.com. Retrieved 2022-04-02.
  2. ^ Hansson, Sven Ove. "Decision theory: A brief introduction". (2005) Section 1.2: A truly interdisciplinary subject.