The principal aim of the study was to examine the psychometric properties and construct validity of the General Decision-Making Scale (GDMS) in a sample of 700 adolescents (aged 15-19 years). Confirmatory and exploratory factor analyses provide evidence for a solid five-dimension structure reflecting the theorized construct: rational, intuitive, dependent, avoidant and spontaneous. No differenc...

This paper examines the implications of the brain sciences’ mechanistic model of human behavior for our understanding of crime. The standard rational-choice crime model is refined by a behavioral approach, which proposes a decision model comprising cognitive and emotional decision systems. According to the behavioral approach, a criminal is not irrational but rather ‘ecologically rational,’ out...

MEDICAL DECISION MAKING is a gamble in which the patient is at risk and the physician is accountable. It is analyzed here as a formal mathematical problem in risk optimization. One solution is the BAYES DECISION RULE which minimizes personal risk and defines the decision logic of a rational patient according to EXPECTED UTILITY THEORY. A second solution is the MINIMAX DECISION RULE which minimi...