Robyn Dawes

Robyn Mason Dawes (1936 – December 14, 2010 ^[1]) was an American psychologist who specialized in the field of human judgment. His research interests included human irrationality, human cooperation, intuitive expertise, and the United States AIDS policy.^[2] He co-wrote an early textbook on mathematical psychology (see below).

In 1985, Dawes joined the Department of Social and Decision Sciences (SDS) at Carnegie Mellon University where he served as Department Head for six years eventually becoming the Charles J. Queenan, Jr. University Professor of Psychology. He was a fellow in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of the National Research Council's Committee on AIDS Research. In 2006, Dawes was elected a Fellow of the American Statistical Association for "for creative research on statistics and rational decision-making, contributions to the application of cognitive psychology to survey research, and promotion of careful statistical thinking in psychology and behavioral research."

In 1990, he was awarded the William James Award by the American Psychological Association for the book Rational Choice in an Uncertain World (now in its 2nd Edition, which he co-wrote with Reid Hastie, see citation below).

Contents 1 Career 2 Books 3 External links 4 References

Career

Dawes earned his B.A. in Philosophy at Harvard (1958) and his Master’s in Clinical Psychology (1960) at the University of Michigan before earning his Doctorate in Mathematical Psychology (1963) at the same institution. He held jobs at the University of Oregon, where he served as Department Head for five years, as well as the Oregon Research Institute.

He was a member of the American Psychological Association Ethics Committee^[3]

Books

• Hastie, Reid; Robyn Dawes (2010). Rational Choice in an Uncertain World: The Psychology of Judgment and Decision Making. Sage Publications, Inc. ISBN 9781412959032. 

• Dawes, Robyn (2003). Everyday Irrationality: How Pseudoscientists, Lunatics, and the Rest of Us Fail to Think Rationally. Westview Press. 

• Dawes, Robyn (1996). House of Cards: Psychology and Psychotherapy Built on Myth. Free Press. 

• Dawes, Robyn (1974). The Fundamentals of Attitude Measurement. John Wiley & Sons. 

• Dawes, Robyn (1970). Mathematical Psychology: An Elementary Introduction (with Clyde Coombs and Amos Tversky). Prentice Hall. 

External links

• Robyn Dawes' web page at Carnegie Mellon University
• Obituary at Carnegie Mellon University

References

1. ^ "Obituary at Carnegie Mellon University". http://sds.hss.cmu.edu/src/faculty/dawes.php. Retrieved 18 December 2010. 
2. ^ "Robyn Dawes profile at the Department of Social and Decision Sciences". http://sds.hss.cmu.edu/src/faculty/dawes.php. Retrieved 13 December 2007. 
3. ^ Rational Choice in an Uncertain World: The Psychology of Judgment and Decision Making, ISBN 978-0761922759, page 372

Persondata
Name	Dawes, Robyn
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1936
Place of birth
Date of death	December 14, 2010
Place of death