BEHAVIORAL DECISION THEORY: A TOPICAL BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR MANAGEMENT SCIENTISTS.

The article discusses the concepts in behavioral decision theory and suggests selective bibliography on certain topics. Normative decision theory prescribes choices that a rational man should make in a given situation, while descriptive decision theory is concerned with the choices actually made in a given situation. Because actual choice can differ from prescribed choice, a distinction is sometimes made between normative and descriptive decision theory. Behavioral decision theory is concerned with both descriptive and normative aspects. The hypothesis, that man is rational, is treated as a general hypothesis to be formulated and tested. Explanatory models which view man as an information processor have recently been developed. In this approach the focus is on two research questions, first, the identification of sources of information actually used by the decision maker and second, identification of the processes used to combine information. Much research of the past twenty years has investigated aspects of decision making complementary to those reported in the operations research literature.