This theory can be expressed either qualitatively or quantitatively, with quantitative approaches focusing on the tradeoffs among the consequences of a decision and the probabilities of these consequences. This approach does not claim that people intuitively make optimal decisions, however. Nevertheless, it shows some ability to predict people's behavior. Efforts to understand, predict, and assist people's decisions should rest on an accurate description of people's current perceptions. These efforts should also rest on awareness that decisionmaking is seldom perfect, but appropriate strategies can help people consider decisions more thoroughly than they otherwise might and encourage them to go beyond their intuition. Notes and 89 references.