Past Events › Cognition and Decision Seminar Series

We learn from experience to make better decisions, often by adjusting our expectations to match past outcomes. In a dynamic world, this adjustment process must itself be adaptive, because changes can occur that render past outcomes irrelevant to future expectations. For example, historical yields from a fruit tree that has since died should no longer affect future expectations. A history of stable stock prices can become irrelevant after a major change in corporate leadership. I will talk about ongoing work…

Decisions often reveal something about of one’s preferences, to others but also to oneself. After the fact, this can be a source of pleasure or pain; before the fact, anticipation of these feelings can influence what one chooses to do. Such self-signaling of internal characteristics through actions is probably unique to humans, and is implicated in both self-control and in the maintenance of social norms. It also presents a challenge to economic and philosophical conceptions of rational action. This talk…