Judgment and decision under uncertainty: Theory and measurement

Judgment and decision broadly refers to the function of consciousness to make a judgment and a decision. Judgment can be defined as the act of selecting a category from a group of categories. Decision can be also defined as the act of selecting an alternative from a group of alternatives. Human judgment and decision are usually made under uncertainty in which there are multiple possible future states of nature. A number of different types of uncertainty in judgment and decision are broadly categorized into three groups, based on the characteristics of the knowledge of the environment, i.e. how much the people know about their surrounding environment. The first is risk, which refers to a condition that occurs with known probability as the result of selecting a category or an alternative. The second is ambiguity, which refers to a state in which, although the possible states of nature that will occur are known, the probabilities of the condition and results to occur are unknown. The third is ignorance, which indicates a states in which the range of alternatives, possible states, and the range of results are not clearly known. Such cases of judgment and decision under ignorance occur frequently in the actual society.


The aim of this Research Topic is to draw together multiple perspectives on judgment and decision making under uncertainty, to highlight important theoretical and empirical insights, and to identify key priorities of new research area. This Research Topic stands at the intersection of psychology, behavioral economics, management science, risk research, and engineering. We welcome original research articles, reviews, theory articles and methodological articles. Experimental and theoretical contributions are also welcomed.


Some possible topics could include the following. JUDGMENT UNDER UNCERTAINTY: measurement method of risk perception, empirical research on risk perception in social lives, measurement method of ambiguity, empirical research on judgment of ambiguity, measurement method of ignorance, and judgment heuristics under uncertainty. DECISION UNDER UNCERTAITYTY: measurement method of decision under risk, empirical research on decision under risk, measurement method of decision under ambiguity, empirical research on decision under ambiguity, measurement method of decision under ignorance, empirical research on decision under ignorance, theory and measurement of probability weighting function or decision weight function, mathematical modelling of decision under uncertainty, process tracing experiment of decision under uncertainty, and neuroscience research on decision under risk, ambiguity, and ignorance.