Human Decision Making
The human decision making process is a huge topic and not one without numerous opposing ideas and theories of how it occurs. This blog has no intention to educate you on the topic from top to bottom. However, some interesting ideas will be illustrated. A basic rundown of ideas on the subject can be found on this Wikipedia article on Decision Making.
Let's start with this:
1. Different parts of the brain function depending upon whether a decision is made for you (told what to do by someone else) or you make your own volitional decision (tell yourself what to do). A neuroimaging study from 2004 illustrated this point.
2. Executive Functioning of the brain is a theorized statement of what psychology believes controls and manages other cognitive processes in the brain including planning, reasoning, rule acquisition, inhibiting unwanted behavioral responses and initiating wanted behavioral responses, abstract thinking, and others.
3. Decision Making, according to a meta-analysis of the literature (Edmund 2005 (book published in 2005 challenging the scientific method)) produced the following synthesis of theories into a suggested Decision Making Process:
* Stage 1 Curious observation
* Stage 2 Is there a problem?
* Stage 3 Goals and planning
* Stage 4 Search, explore, and gather the evidence
* Stage 5 Generate creative and logical alternative solutions
* Stage 6 Evaluate the evidence
* Stage 7 Make the educated guess (hypothesis)
* Stage 8 Challenge the hypothesis
* Stage 9 Reach a conclusion
* Stage 10 Suspend judgment
* Stage 11 Take action
* Ingredient 12 Creative, non-logical, logical, and technical methods
* Ingredient 13 Procedural principles and theories
* Ingredient 14 Attributes and thinking skills
(By the way, you many not like the underlying premise of the Edmond book, but it is challenging.)
So, begin with me the consideration of how these ideas (and those to come) influence decision making...and put the information together with brain health information.