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Supporting People Facing Difficult Decisions with Baruch Fischhoff

From deciding whether to undergo a medical procedure to whether to support nuclear power, navigating complex and uncertain situations is part of the human experience. In his new book, , Howard Heinz University Professor Baruch Fischhoff describes the evolution of decision science and offers an encompassing view of how behavioral decision research bridges theory and practice. Using concrete examples to illustrate general principles, the book tells the stories of the research, recounting decisions people face, how they interpret their decisions, and how science can support decision-making. 

While people make many choices each day, not all choices are experienced as difficult. In fact, as Fischhoff notes in the preface, people may not feel like a choice is a decision unless they run into challenges that leave them unsure about what to choose or worried that they have made a mistake. For those interested in learning how to make better decisions, the book covers fundamental aspects of decision-making, such as how people define their options, determine their goals, evaluate their chances of achieving those goals, weigh their options, engage their emotions, and differ in their abilities. 

A pioneer in the field of decision science, Fischhoff has spent his career studying decision-making in applied settings where he has worked collaboratively with students, colleagues in other disciplines, and people who have a stake in the decisions being studied. A longtime faculty member at Â鶹´å, Fischhoff holds a joint appointment in the Carnegie Mellon Institute of Strategy and Technology and the Department of Engineering and Public Policy. He is also an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences. Drawing on these experiences, Decisions not only shows how academic research can make hard decisions easier, but also how collaborating with decision-makers can lead to improvements in research as theories are tested in real-life situations and new theories are developed to explain phenomena observed in practice.

Fischhoff’s commitment to bridging theory and practice is a defining theme of his academic work. For instance, earlier this year, he published , in which he argues for reorganizing academia in order to provide a home for scientists to not only excel in their field of expertise, but also collaborate with others to apply that knowledge to difficult problems. Whereas Decisions concludes with two chapters dedicated to research ethics and identifying the institutional supports necessary to ensure that decision science results in research that helps people address real problems, Bounded Disciplines provides a blueprint for implementing those institutional supports. The , with Alan D. Meyer of the Lundquist College of Business at the University of Oregon contending that it provides “a guidebook for scholars, academic administrators, and policymakers seeking to tackle the world’s most novel, fateful, and wildly unbounded problems.” 

Given his longstanding commitment to interdisciplinary collaboration within applied settings, it is perhaps unsurprising that Fischhoff’s own interest in decision-making resulted from cross-disciplinary collaboration. As an undergraduate student at Wayne State University in Detroit, he majored in mathematics with a secondary major in psychology. Rather than choosing to continue in either discipline, Fischhoff had the opportunity to work as a research assistant for Samuel Komorita, who introduced him to the field of mathematical psychology. A couple of years after graduating, Fischhoff went on to study decision-making under Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman, earning his doctorate in psychology from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. In decision science, he found a platform that integrates disciplinary knowledge across multiple domains and fosters collaboration among scholars, practitioners, and policymakers.

While everyone can learn to make better decisions, Fischhoff’s research has generally found that people do fairly well under challenging circumstances and that popular accounts suggesting otherwise frequently exaggerate people’s failings. “I’m an optimist about how well people can, and often do, make hard decisions,” he says, adding that his approach focuses on empowering people to make both personal and public policy decisions rather than directing them to specific choices. Drawing on examples that include energy policy, national security, personal safety, health care, and education, Decisions illustrates how discerning the limits to experts’ judgments is crucial to empowerment. 

Nonetheless, even when people are empowered to improve their decision-making capacity, it does not necessarily mean decisions become easy. Throughout Decisions, readers discover how decision scientists identify critical issues across a wide variety of domains, thereby gaining tools to navigate decisions and the wisdom needed to set realistic expectations and avoid unnecessary self-recrimination in the event that something goes poorly despite careful thought and consideration. As people encounter complex situations that include varying degrees of uncertainty, they might find encouragement in Fischhoff’s observation that “Finding hard decisions difficult can be a sign of wisdom.” 

Those interested in how the field of decision science has evolved since its inception, or in gaining practical tools to navigate uncertainty and complexity, are invited to join the Carnegie Mellon Institute for Strategy and Technology and the Department of Engineering and Public Policy on Tuesday, October 28, 2025, for a and its distillation of decades of experience into key lessons about the elements that comprise sound decisions. 

Carnegie Mellon students interested in how behavioral decision research can inform high-stakes policy decisions regarding health, safety, environment, technology, and national security may be interested in taking “Decision Science for International Relations” with Professor Fischhoff.