Q. So, what is JDM?
A. Judgment and decision making I'm told.
Well, that's easy we all do that every day, so why do a module on it? What is there about JDM to study?
Lets start with the text book answers...
Judgments are evaluations or estimates and decisions indicate an intention to follow through a course of action. I take from that, that a judgment is goal oriented, that is we make a judgment in order to achieve a 'goal' and as a result of our judgment we make a decision of action in order to reach said goal. I would also conclude from this that judgements are dependant on the level of motivation one has to achieve ones goal.
Take for instance this blog. Scary thought to a self confessed Techno-moron, however something that has to be done in order to complete this module and ultimately my degree. So my motivation is mixed, I need to do it but am unsure how and, probably like everyone else doing this for the first time, unsure of the expected and or required content of the page. Adding to the normal fears of a first time event, is that this is VERY PUBLIC! So we start with reading.
It appears from research that there have been a few suggestions proffered as to how we make judgments; the processes that might occur, the different times at which we might use different strategies to arrive at judgments, factors that affect our judgment making and so on and so on. It would appear to be a pretty big research area, in some pretty important domains where decision making is crucial eg legal, medical, business. Which is obvious really as decisions made in these areas have far reaching effects, even life or death consequences.
And back to my blog...I need to decide what to put in it, This involves making a judgment of what is expected (particularly as it is a graded component of the module). I'm fortunate to have a small amount of time on my side for this and am able to research fully assessment criteria etc, to which I have immediate access, not all judgments we need to make whether personal or public, have this luxury. According to theory therefore I am in a position to fully evaluate all information and make a balanced decision based on summing up the relevant 'cues', using a linear model of judgment making.
When I received Davids e-mail, reminding me that 1) I hadn't started yet, 2) it would benefit me and 3) its Friday tomorrow, I probably resorted to another theory of judgment making, that of Fast and Frugal. I need to tap some keys now! I've got a list of cues but now instead of summing them up I resort to stopping at the first cue I get to in order to make a decision. Obviously the salience of each cue is dependant on the perceived or desired outcome of a decision made. On this occasion "pass the module" was the most salient cue!
And so, here we are, about to hit the publish button on Post 1
