College senior Matthew Mandelbaum and Professor Aron Katsenelinboigen co-edited a collection of student essays. The Spice Girls don't have much in common with the game of chess. Nevertheless, both are the subjects of essays in "An Aesthetic Approach: Predispositioning Applied," a collection of student essays edited by Operations and Information Management Professor Aron Katsenelinboigen and College senior Matthew Mandelbaum. The book, published this fall, brings together essays on a wide range of subjects written by students in Katsenelinboigen's class. All the essays use the Katsenelinboigen theory of decision making to explain their various areas of interest, Mandelbaum said. The method, termed an "aesthetic approach to decision making," is the focus of the General Honors course Katsenelinboigen is teaching this semester. Katsenelinboigen conceived the course while contemplating the similarities between decision-making in wide-ranging fields. "I said to myself 'There has to be something behind this'," he recalled. Mandelbaum said the method "allows you to organize the material and to analyze the problem" by considering "positional parameters." Katsenelinboigen explained that these parameters are the subjective, nonrational factors which impact decisions. In any situation where the result will vary based on who makes a decision, subjectivity is a factor that should be considered, he explained. By making students conscious of this subjective element, Katsenelinboigen hopes they will make better decisions in situations where no formula provides an answer. To further this goal, Katsenelinboigen -- who has been teaching his course for two decades -- introduced a literature component three years ago. He noted that reading literature helps students gain appreciation for subjective decision-making while learning how to prioritize the factors in such decisions. Katsenelinboigen said the range of applications for his method encompasses any situation where there is no clear set of actions to achieve a given goal. Mandelbaum said he became a believer in Katsenelinboigen's theory after taking his course. He decided to follow up with an independent study course supervised by Katsenelinboigen. That course led to a research grant last summer, which allowed Mandelbaum to gather and edit the pieces included in the collection. The book is only the first step in what the two hope will become an ongoing research opportunity for interested students. They are currently seeking funding for expanded undergraduate involvement. Katsenelinboigen said the ultimate goal is to give people in all fields "a license for subjectivity" in their formulation of decisions. Because it is not always possible to be objective, he added that people must learn to deal with subjectivity rather than ignoring it.
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