title: Information processing as a paradigm for decision making.
abstract: For decades, the dominant paradigm for studying decision making--the expected utility framework--has been burdened by an increasing number of empirical findings that question its validity as a model of human cognition and behavior. However, as Kuhn (1962) argued in his seminal discussion of paradigm shifts, an old paradigm cannot be abandoned until a new paradigm emerges to replace it. In this article, we argue that the recent shift in researcher attention toward basic cognitive processes that give rise to decision phenomena constitutes the beginning of that replacement paradigm. Models grounded in basic perceptual, attentional, memory, and aggregation processes have begun to proliferate. The development of this new approach closely aligns with Kuhn's notion of paradigm shift, suggesting that this is a particularly generative and revolutionary time to be studying decision science.
authors.affiliation: Anderson School of Management, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90077; email: Daniel.oppenheimer@anderson.ucla.edu.
authors.forename: Daniel M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Oppenheimer
authors.forename: Evan
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kelso
mesh_terms: D003657:Decision Making / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008606:Mental Processes / Q000502:physiology*; D010684:Philosophy; D011582:Psychological Theory; D012586:Science
keywords: decision making; information processing; paradigm shift; utility theory