How Do We Make Decisions?

Psychology of decision making - part 1. Experimental vs. Rational System...

Based on: "Intuition in Judgment and Decision Making"

Our existence in the contemporary world means solving numerous problems and making countless decisions. Fast changes around us cause that the number of decisions to be taken grows constantly. It is estimated that the contemporary man makes more decisions every day than the primitive man throughout their whole life.

If every decision took only a moment's reflection, we might run out of time for everything else. However, everyday life proves that decision making does not seem to be given the time it deserves. We make our decisions subconsciously, without even realizing that alternative choices are possible. Usually we let some kind of inner voice guide us through the decision process.

Is The Inner Voice Always Right?

Just as you are reading this, something in your head is probably dictating an answer to the question above. No matter what answer this is, you can see the operation of a mechanism, which we will call an experimental decision making system or, in short, intuition. Also notice the way intuition communicated its message to you. It may have been some kind of feeling…

Since you are reading this, you are probably aware of the necessity to support some decision making processes. Why should we do it if the inner voice was unerring? What your mind is occupied with right now, when you are analyzing facts is called reasoning. It is a cognitive process related to the other system which participates in decision making - a rational one.

Where Is The Decision Made?

Every single decision is a resultant of the two systems in operation: experimental and rational. One would be hard-pressed to find a better description of these two systems than that from "Intuition in Judgment and Decision Making" (I strongly recommend this book to all interested in the psychology of decision making) and that is why I decided to quote it here:

"The experiential system operates in a manner that is preconscious, automatic, nonverbal, imagistic, associative, rapid, effortless, concrete, holistic, intimately associated with affect, highly compelling, and minimally demanding of cognitive resources. […] Its schemas are primarily generalizations from emotionally significant intense or repetitive experience. It is the same system with which nonhuman animals have successfully negotiated their environments over millions of years of evolution."

"The rational system is a reasoning system that operates in a manner that is conscious, verbal, abstract, analytical, affect free, effortful, and highly demanding of cognitive resources. It acquires its beliefs by conscious learning from books, lectures and other explicit sources of information, and from logical inference; and it has a very brief evolutionary history. Thus, like the experiential system, it learns from experience, but it does so not through automatically establishing associations but by logical inference."

While a decision is being made the two systems interact, we may call it 'negotiating'. The final choice is a compromise between rationality of the decision and its relation to the subconscious preferences of the decision maker.

To what extent the decision is rational or intuitive depends on among other things the decision situation, its importance, the decision maker’s personality and beliefs as well as his motivation to make a good choice.

Why Do We Need "The Dog’s Brain"?

The experimental system is often compared to the decision making center in animals. It is related to the working of an evolutionarily older part of the brain (dog's brain), which operates beyond consciousness, and which communicates its stance through feelings.

Unlike animals, however, we can knowingly analyze situations (rational system) and make decisions which stand against the hints given by the experimental system. While we can resist feelings, this causes discomfort. That is why strong feelings are so difficult to ignore.

Is the rational system better then? If we could 'turn off' the experimental system, would our decisions be better? The answer is no. This knowledge comes from the research into the lives of people with a brain disorder, who had their intuition cut off from the decision process. As a result of constant rational analysis, their life has become completely disorganized.

Both systems are equally important and both have their advantages and disadvantages. Thanks to the rational system we can think logically, which proves handy with abstract problems and long term planning. But if we turn it off, we are bound to get stuck in a phase of collecting and analyzing information, unable to make the final decision.