What is the difference between normative and rational models in decision making?
Depends on where you’re coming from. If from decision theory, then I would suggest that there is no reason normative decision making cannot be fully rational as well, and vice versa. The normative approach only sets out to find out what is the best decision to take, and it assumes rationality. But one could be looking at this not from decision theory, and from one perspective one could argue that normative decision models are those that are prescriptive, i.e. the norms to which one works in making the decision are not necessarily ‘rational’, such as religious or societal rules/laws which are deemed to have been given by some deity or body of belief system. Since they are not derived rationally, i.e. by reason alone, the model of decision making could be contrasted with the rationl model.
