Discussion - How Do We Assess the Risk of Becoming Infected with HIV
Chapter 8 was a little overwhelming. There were so many theoretical descriptions of how people make decisions about their choice of sex partners, and other risky behaviors. Does anyone actually think like this? The truth is, that most of us make potentially life altering decisions in the blink of an eye. Yet behind those split-second decisions, there is an evolutionary history, dating back to early man. Intuition, as we might call it, is probably an unconscious series of decisions made based on associations with people and lifetime experiences. All of these flashes of memory are confounded in the present with fear, lust, emotion and other biases, well before logical thinking comes into the picture.
The best way to understand these concepts is probably not to read about them in a textbook, but to discuss them, bringing to mind our own experiences, and those of people whom we have known. The task for this discussion will be to give an example of how someone you have known or read about has used one of these decision-making models to make a life-altering decision in their own life, and how it has affected them. Remember, we should be focusing our discussion on the situation, not the person involved, so don't identify any person by name.
If you can't think of a real-life situation to use as an example, use a character from a well known book or movie, or explain a theoretical situation that might happen in real life. Or write something more general about one of these topics.
The first thing that pops out in most people's mind is "Optimistic Bias". It's such a common phenomenon that everyone has a story to tell. However, in the past discussions, I find that everyone seems to fall back on the same topic, while ignoring the other less familiar concepts. The purpose of this chapter is to teach about the different ways that people make decisions. Since the concepts are a little dry on their own, a class discussion can be a fun and effective tool for learning. However, if everybody falls back on Optimistic Bias, nobody will learn anything new.
So the challenge this week will be to find something to write about besides Optimistic Bias. Give some examples below, but there are many other possibilities to choose from.
Examples:
Risk assessment - ideas for discussion:
1. Give an example of how someone might use the normative decision-making process to assess the risk of contracting as STD. This can be a made up story or an example from real life.
2. Give an example of how someone might use the subjective decision-making process to assess the risk of contracting as STD. This can be a made up story or an example from real life..
3. Explain how probabilistic decision-making process specifically applies to HIV.
4. Give and example how "Availability", specifically Familiarity, can influence a person's decision making process in preventing a tragedy.
5. Give and example how "Availability", specifically Salience, can influence a person's decision making process in preventing a tragedy.
6. Explain how the representative heuristic has led to an irrational fear in yourself, or someone you have known.
7. HIV testing: assume that you get a negative response on your annual HIV test. What does that say abut the likelihood of your getting HIV in the future?
8. Epidemiology has taught us a lot about HIV and AIDS; how we can get it, how we can avoid it. Can the HIV statistics predict the likelihood of an individual being infected with HIV in their lifetime?
9. How do you feel about confidentiality in HIV testing?
Attachment:- Assignment Files.rar