Judgment Modes

A judgment is an opinion as to what was, is, or will be some decision-significant state of the world, for instance, a physician's conclusion that a patient has suffered a myocardial infarction. Judgment modes are qualitatively distinct means by which people arrive at their judgments. Contrast, say, a myocardial infarction diagnosis based solely on the physician's personal clinical experience with another derived from a validated formula applied to signs and symptoms on a checklist. This entry explains why judgment modes matter in medicine. It also describes major judgment modes that are especially useful to distinguish in medical practice. And, as appropriate, the entry further indicates specific practical implications of such distinctions.