Controlling uncertainty: decision making and learning in complex worlds

A new book by SBCS's Dr Magda Osman 'Controlling Uncertainty: Decision Making and Learning in Complex Worlds' has been published this month by Wiley. The book reviews and discusses the most current research relating to the ways we can control the uncertain world around us.  Magda says: 'We are awash with ideas currently promoted in popular science in which we are told that we should go with our gut feelings/intuition. While this is a popular idea, there is no evidence for this in research on control, in fact our intuition can set us back rather than help us to better control the world around us. Having a strong sense of agency is the key to being able to improving our decision making because without it, our understanding of the world breaks down. This means we need to monitor what we are doing as well as the world around us.' The book features reviews and discussions of the most current research in a number of fields relevant to controlling uncertainty, such as psychology, neuroscience, computer science and engineering;  presents a new framework that is designed to integrate a variety of disparate fields of research; and represents the first book of its kind to provide a general overview of work related to understanding control.