Decision making
From Deliberative Democracy Institiute Wiki
This is a first scatch of the process of decision making:
Contents
Intuitive Decision Making
Most of the time, people use intutive thinking when they make decisions, which is carried by system 1. Intutive thinking is somtimes not logical, nor it is sutiable to precise reasoning (which is handeld by system 2). This creates logical mistakes, and may influance decision making proufundly. Understanding the way system 1 works, is important to thus who want to faciltate wise deicsion by deliberation.Most of the work in this page was based on Kahnaman's book "Thinking Fast&Slow"[1]
Biased Observations
Media Baised Observations
To sell, the media should produce interesting news, therefore it will describe only events that may interest it's public. Kahneman suggested that the reason he thought that politicians fornicate more then physician and lawyers, is since politicians are the subject of news, while the others do not make headlines when they are caught in adultery (Kahneman, p. 7). He suggested that the media bias will influence much of what we think about the world, and divert our ability get well informed and unbiased information.
Media bodies will also frame the message in such a way as to conceive their readers give faith in the agenda that the media owners maintain.
Emotional Baised Observations
Fear Baised Observations
People that are stressed may look at their surrounding in more dichotomic view, sorting the social world in to good and bad, and will generalized from very few observations. Especially if the subject of observation is categorized as bad. For instance if a member of another ethnic group will behave in a negative way, the observer will conclude that all the members of the ethnic group behaves in a similar negative way. This is due the need of the FFFF system, which is activated feeling of emergency, to make very fast decisions. It has to decide whether other subjects may harm us or help us. Usually, Conservatives are more liable to dichotomic views, caused by fear[2], but there are observations that people with far left-wingers also may have inclination to dichotomic observations. The Marxists theory divide the world in to proletarions and owners of the means of production, the frist are good, while the latter are bad, and the redumption of the working class can only come after a strugle between the two parties.
Affect heuristic
For more details read Kahnman's Thinking fast and slow, p. 103
The affect heuristic is a heuristic, a mental shortcut that allows people to make decisions and solve problems quickly and efficiently, in which current emotion—fear, pleasure, surprise, etc.—influences decisions. In which people lets their likes and dislikes detrmain their beliefs about the world. In other words, it is a type of heuristic in which emotional response, or "affect" in psychological terms, plays a lead role. It is a subconscious process that shortens the decision-making process and allows people to function without having to complete an extensive search for information. It is shorter in duration than a mood, occurring rapidly and involuntarily in response to a stimulus. Reading the words "lung cancer" usually generates an affect of dread, while reading the words "mother's love" usually generates an feeling of affection and comfort. The affect heuristic is typically used while judging the risks and benefits of something, depending on the positive or negative feelings that people associate with a stimulus. It is the equivalent of "going with your gut". If their feelings towards an activity are positive, then people are more likely to judge the risks as low and the benefits high. On the other hand, if their feelings towards an activity are negative, they are more likely perceive the risks as high and benefits low.
It seems that affect heuistic, is one of the main casues of deicisions-by-emotions. Kahanm wrote that system 2 is lazy and therefore it does not stop system 1 heurisitic problem solving. To change it, we hace to activate system 2 by RPE or some other procedure.
Khanaman also wrote that we substitute "logical" questions to emotional and asociative questions. Therefore, our basic reasons are usualy emotional.
Baised Perception
Truthnness Effect
When something was stemped in the neural networks, it has a feeling of femiliarity. If it will be encounter again in hearing or reading, it will be sound more true. Accordingly, when one rights good (According to the roles of The science of scientific writing)[3]
Brain process involving decision making
Usually People uses system 1 to decide. They will try to decide which option will give best values, based on information gatherd in the dlPFC[4], and calculated by the vmPFC[5]. Dolan also found that the PFC also connected to conflict solving.
When people scurtenise the world, they are compering the phenomena to information they gatherd in their NMOs. A contrediction is detected by the ACC, which activate system 2 in order to solve the contrediction. system 2 will oprate also when a novel task or complext rational task will presnt themselves.
When in stress, the FFFF system is put action. It seems that it inhibit ACC activation, thus, closing the actvation of system 2, and probably closing also jeneral empathy. The FFFF system may open a process to strength "famely" relations to strength group cohesion.
Decision Making Settings
Other subjects of decision making
Mere-exposure effect - people will prefer objects they were more exposed to, but to a some degree. If the object was disliked in the first place, it will be more disliked. The effect is limited in duration, after 20 exposures, the effect diminish. When people were presnted with comercial to a drink with happy faces in mere exposer effect, they preferd it, over the same drink, without smiling object. This strenght the concept that people may decide in acordance to their feelings and not on a rational base.
Further readings
- A power point presentation about the role of vmPFC and OPC in decision making from 2006. OPC is value based decision making, and mPFC is involved in options selection.
References
- ↑ Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, Fast and Slow (p. 512). Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
- ↑ Johen, J., Glaser, J., Kruglanski, A., & Sulloway, F. J. (2003). Political Conservatism as Motivated Social Cognition. Psychological Bulletin, 129(3), 339–375.
- ↑ Kahnman, Thinking slaw and fast, 2011 (the truthness effect)
- ↑ Dolan, R., Explaining modulation of reasoning by belief, Cognition, 2003, 87, 1, B11-B22
- ↑ Sokol-Hessner et al., Decision value computation in DLPFC and VMPFC adjusts to the available decision time, 2012