This paper aims to present a theoretical concept that allows to investigate decision-making in large and ideologically differentiated bodies. Former models of oceanic games were based on the assumption of equal disposition to cooperate with other players among all voters. It is impossible to hold this assumption in a political reality. The paper develops the concept of "hybrid power indices" for oceanic games. Oceanic games with a partial homogeneity structure are analysed in the paper. The paper is the result of my previous studies of decision-making processes in large assemblies and my efforts in modelling ideological differentiation in political bodies. The paper also shows that presented formal models have solid foundations in classical sociological theories.
The last part presents several convenient and reliable sociological interpretations of the models as well as my plans for future studies using the models described.

Although refugees are offered the potential of asylum protection through the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, many states are attempting to curtail the number of asylum applications received each year. Several scholars have argued that even without such deterrence measures, some refugees are less likely to receive a positive asylum decision than others. Using country level data for 32 European states, this project examines the effects of various characteristics – including gender, age, and state of origin – on the likelihood of being granted asylum. This study is a fi rst attempt at empirically testing the asylum literature’s anecdotal evidence of bias in the decision-making processes in determining the outcomes of asylum claims.

Debate regarding evidence based medicine in current state focuses on basic philosophical as-sumptions of paradigm announced in 1992 by EBM Working Group. One of the topic in this debate is clinical reasoning in light of medical decision-making. Polish literature still lacks of comprehensive presentation in this theoretical fi eld. In current article I present overview of models of clinical reasoning. I begin from the debate of rationality distinguishing two positions called meliorism and panglosianism. Next I proceed to elaboration of three models for clinical reasoning in context of meliorists position. It gives an opportunity to look closer for inferential rules of clinical decision-making and as a result may be precious perspective for future re-search and medical education.

In this article we attempt to summarize the fi ndings from a number of studies on the asymmetric dominance effect (attraction effect, decoy effect). This is a phenomenon where popularity of one of the decision alternatives increases when accompanied by a similar but inferior (dominated) option. Scientifi c research and numerous observational studies show that the attraction effect occurs in various fi elds, incl. the economy, politics, law or medicine. In the literature there are many ambiguities and contradictory theories about, for example, its determinants in the light of the dual-systems theory. It is not ntirely clear whether the phenomenon of asymmetric domination is the result of a refl ective, deliberative way of information processing or of quick and intuitive thinking. There is also no unequivocal answer to the question whether this effect is a manifestation of human irrationality or whether it is an adaptive and effective decision-making strategy in conditions of uncertainty and information noise. The article contains a broad overview of research on the effect of asymmetric dominance among people and animals. The hanges in the susceptibility to this effect across the lifespan are analysed. Finally, the paper discusses using the asymmetric dominance effect to achieve socially desirable goals as described in the theory of libertarian paternalism.

The goal of the present paper is to review recent theoretical models and empirical studies on the role of numeracy (i.e., cognitive ability in processing numerical information) in decision making under risk and uncertainty. The research conducted in the last decade points that numeracy is the most robust predictor of making good decisions, which predictions are independent of other psychological constructs or cognitive abilities (such as fluid Intelligence or cognitive reflection). The pivotal role of numeracy has been described in at least three theoretical models: Fuzzy-Trace Theory, Skilled Decision Theory, and Multiple Numeric Competencies model. Furthermore, the results of numerous research indicate that better decisions made by people with high numeracy are underpinned by various psychological mechanisms of the cognitive, motivational, and affective nature. Findings related to the performance of people with high and low numeracy served to develop both immediate (e.g., visual aids or an experience-based format of risk communication) and long-term (e.g.,cognitive training) methods of improving the decision-making process. Based on these decision aids, we can effectively support people with low numeracy in an accurate risk assessment, risk comprehension, and making better decisions.

The article examines the decision-making components of Jane Austen’s six major novels as reconstructed in Michael Chwe’s book and his argument that Austen was a precursor of game theory. In her novels, Austen describes an abundance of strategic situations in the mating process within the British higher classes. Social constraints made mating within this world a tough game due to harsh punishments for failure, especially for women, and severe limitation on signaling interest or sympathy. Austen cleverly investigates this environment and reconstructs many aspects of strategic behavior that have their counterparts in formal concepts of game and decision theory. While she hasn’t made contributions to theory per se, she deserves being named a precursor of applied strategic thinking and an expert on a particular strategically sophisticated social environment.

Decision making in international organizations is a multistage and complex process. This paper is confi ned however only to one but the most important stage, either the voting on a one proposal, which may be accepted or rejected, or the choice between two alternative proposals. This seemingly simple, dichotomous decision can be made by many different methods of voting, i.e. simple majority; absolute majority; qualifi ed majority; voting with quorum; weighted voting; voting with a possibility of veto etc. These methods differ in their properties: equal vs. unequal treatment of the participants of decision-making assembly; the manner of respecting of minority rights; equal vs. unequal treatment of possible decisions; sensitiveness to changes of decisions of particular participants; effectiveness and other. These properties express postulates: anonymity; semi-duality; citizen sovereignty; monotonicity and strong monotonicity; unanimity, unrestricted domain etc. Some of these properties exclude the other. The choice of the particular method of voting means an acceptation of some postulates and a resignation from the other postulates.

Trust has been one of the most discussed topics in research ondecision-making processes in organizations since early 1990s. the notion ofdistrust, however, has been rarely investigated. Authors of this text analyzeexisting literature looking for possible conceptualizations of both trust anddistrust and they highlight possible sources of this imbalance in the debate. They also argue, basing on some empirical research, that distrust should be positioned as an autonomous research problem and that its dominant concept - as a mirrorimage of trust – should be finally questioned.

Enrolment is a complex process. There is a number of games that can be distinguished and analysed: universities and faculties compete for applicants, applicants compete to become students, etc. The purpose of this paper was to analyse process of applicants' decision-making. In the first part of this article a model of applicants' decision-making strategies is described. In the second part consequences of applicants' strategic behaviour are examined. According to the presented model secondary school graduates with lower final exams results should avoid choosing the most popular faculties. To determine if self-selection of applicants can be observed data collected at University ofWarsaw during 2010 enrolment was used.

Dealing with the problem of aging society is nowadays a challenging area of interests for both practice and science. Cognitive decline influences the decision-making process in elderly people. Changes in effectiveness of decisions are however situation-dependent. Aging not only affects the quality of decisions, but also strategy selection and choice satisfaction. Contemporary research and theories are discussed in this paper.

Social choice theory is essentially about the constraints upon effective mechanisms for implementing desirable states of a society or a group, given the preferences and utilities of its members. Social choice theory is also, and much more generally, a conceptual examination of normative theories of society – theories that characterize what it is for state of affairs to be better from the social point of view. Social choice methods have different aims, for example democratic decision-making, epistemic decision-making, respecting individual rights of persons and groups, just distribution of goods. They are justified by the sets of postulates, which represent different basic social values.

This paper presents a set of typical fallacies that accompany us in everyday decision-making. One of them is the pre-decisional distortion of information which consists in a tendency to increase the difference between attractiveness of the chosen and rejected alternatives. Another well-known bias is the influence of judgments made in one attribute on judgments in other attributes. This phenomenon is known as the halo effect. An equally common cognitive biasis the primacy effect which refers to overestimating information that appears first and underestimating data presented later in the serial position. The evaluation of choice alternatives is also influenced by other, less known phenomena: the context effect and the framing effect. The former is  esponsible in particular for to tendencies: (2) avoiding extreme choice options and (2) the effect of asymmetric dominance. The latter describes a situation where the evaluation and choice may depend on whether the same result is presented in one or another way. Overcoming cognitive biases of judgment is not easy. The best way seems to be to arrange evaluation conditions in such a way that will prevent fallacies from occurring.

An indispensable feature of a federation is autonomy of the parts of the federation. Federation systems differ in a degree of autonomy. Respecting group rights in social decision-making in federations can be in conflict with the Pareto optimality principle. It is the essence of the so-called federal paradox. The paradox of federalism, unlike the liberal paradox, i.e., a similar potential inconsistency between respecting individual rights and the efficiency of social decisions, has not yet been fully analyzed. In this paper, after presentation of the liberal paradox, well described in the literature, we present a formal characterization of the federal paradox. Moreover, some other problems connected to decision-making in federations are discussed.