We have all been faced with a situation that we just cannot figure out the answer to. Different facets of psychology offer many different explanations and methods for making decisions. Let’s look at a few of them:
In industrial and organizational psychology, leaders are often divided into four decision-making styles: The Directive, The Analytical, The Conceptual and the Behavioral. The Directive style decision maker is generally rational, and quickly makes decisions. Unfortunately, they are often short-sighted or only look at short-term goals. The Analytical decision maker gathers and analyzes as much data as possible, which often results in a slow process. The Conceptual decision maker thinks in broad strokes, long-term solutions, and is more likely to come up with creative solutions. Finally, the Behavioral decision maker is mostly concerned about the opinions of other people, and will hold meetings to incorporate those opinions into the final decision.
In choice theory, decision making can be broken down into three categories: The Single Feature Model, the Additive Feature Model, and the Elimination by Aspects Model. The Single-Feature Model is basing a decision on one specific thing, such as price or color. The Additive Feature Model can be quite a lengthy process, as it applies a rating system to each choice, and carefully calculates which option would be the best. The Elimination by Aspects Model is also a time consuming model, where the decision maker ranks the categories of the decision, i.e. color, price, size, and then systematically eliminates options based on the ranking system. Eventually, you end up with only one option.
Heuristics are essentially a shortcut to a decision, that allows us to come to a conclusion much faster than if we were to systematically rule out options, and come to a conclusion that way. The availability heuristic takes past experiences and estimates how likely an event is to occur. For example, a teenager who is deciding whether or not to sneak out late at night. They would think about all of the times that they and their friends have successfully snuck out, and compare those to all of the times that they or their friends have been caught. If the teen knows of more times that they or friends have successfully snuck out, then they will likely go for it, and if they can think of more times when they or friends have been caught, they will likely choose not to sneak out. The representativeness heuristic is based on comparing the current situation to similar situations. Let’s look at that teenager again. If they imagine the stereotypical teenager who sneaks out, and thinks about someone who has bad grades and smokes cigarettes, but they are an all-star athlete and get straight A’s, then they will likely believe that they would be less suspicious in sneaking out, and the probability of getting caught would be low. The familiarity heuristic is when someone chooses something that is familiar over something that is unfamiliar. For example, you buy the same shampoo each time you go shopping, but there is no particular reason why. The satisficing heuristic means that you choose something just because it satisfies one certain criteria, such as buying the same shampoo repeatedly because it costs the least.
Due to the concept of free-will, we can go about decisions in any way we like. Free will means that regardless of your decision making process; heuristic, a single-feature model, or just random choice, we as humans have the ability to make that decision for ourselves. If you can’t figure it out on your own, there are professionals (like us) to help guide you. You are still strong and valuable if you ask for help.
References:
Bavoľár, J. (2015). Decision-making styles and their associations with decision-making competencies and mental health. Judgment and Decision
Making, 10(1), 115–122. Retrieved from http://journal.sjdm.org/14/141103/jdm141103.html
Cherry, K. (2019, July 1). The Psychology of Decision-Making Strategies. Retrieved from
https://www.verywellmind.com/decision-making-strategies-2795483
Psychology Today. (n.d.). Heuristics. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/heuristics
Taibbi, R. (2018, December 16). The Art of Making Decisions. Retrieved from
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/fixing-families/201812/the-art-making-decisions
Tversky, A. (1972, June). Elimination by aspects: A theory of choice. Psychological Review, 80, 281-299. Retrieved from
http://www.gatsby.ucl.ac.uk/~dilan/sharefiles/Tversky_1972.pdf