Decision psychology is the internal structure of the process of identifying and choosing alternatives based on the values, preferences and beliefs of the person making the choice.
This process is seen as a problem-solving activity, completed by a choice that is considered optimal or, at least, satisfactory. This process can be based on explicit or implicit knowledge and beliefs.
Knowledge
Implicit knowledge can be gained through experience or reflection. It may be something that you cannot express in words.
Direct (explicit) knowledge is often used to fill gaps in complex decision-making processes. Usually both of these types of knowledge, implicit and explicit, are used in the selection process in conjunction with each other. Explicit knowledge is less likely to lead to important decisions, but the process to which this article is devoted often depends on knowledge gained from experience.
Brief point
The main part of the decision-making process in psychology) includes the analysis of a finite set of alternatives described in terms of evaluation criteria. The challenge then may be to rank these alternatives in terms of how attractive they are to decision makers. Another task may be to find the best alternative or determine the relative overall priority of each alternative (for example, if both of them are incompatible projects, depending on limited resources), when all the criteria are considered simultaneously.
The study of such problems is the science of multi-criteria decision analysis. This area of ​​knowledge has always attracted the interest of many researchers and practitioners and is still discussed at a high level, since there are many methods that can help people in the difficult process of choosing between two (or more) alternatives.
Value
Logical decision making is an important part of all scientific disciplines, where experts apply their knowledge in a certain field in order to do something. For example, medical decision-making is often related to the diagnosis and the choice of appropriate treatment. But naturalistic research on this topic shows that in situations with a more limited time, higher stakes or an increased chance of error, experts can make an intuitive choice, ignoring structured approaches. They can follow the default strategy, which is in line with their experience and consistent with the general lines of action, without weighing alternatives.
Outside influence
The environment can influence the psychology of decision-making in a certain way. For example, environmental complexity (when it is not clear which choice will be most effective) is a factor affecting cognitive function. A complex environment is an environment with a large number of different possible states that change (or completely disappear) over time. Studies at the University of Colorado have shown that more complex environments correlate with higher cognitive function. This means that the location can influence the decision.
In one experiment, the complexity of the choice was measured by the number of small objects and devices in the room (environment). A simple room had fewer such things. The cognitive function was significantly affected by a higher degree of environmental complexity, which contributed to the development of a situation analysis skill and the formulation of the best choice possible.
Analysis problem
It is important to distinguish between problem analysis and decision making. It has traditionally been argued that it is first necessary to analyze the problem so that the information gathered in this process can be used to make some meaningful choice.
Analysis paralysis is a state of over-analysis (or over-understanding) of a situation where a choice or action is never made or is constantly delayed, effectively paralyzing both the person and the situation. In emergency psychology, this paralysis is considered the worst of all that could be.
Rationality and irrationality
In economics, it is believed that if people are reasonable and free to make their own decisions, then they will behave according to the theory of rational choice. It states that a person consistently makes choices that lead to the best situation for himself, taking into account all available considerations, including costs and benefits. The rationality of these considerations is determined from the point of view of the person himself, so the choice is not irrational just because someone considers it doubtful. The psychology of choice and decision making deals with similar problems.
In reality, however, there are some factors that influence people and make them make irrational choices, for example, choose conflicting options when people encounter the same problem formulated in two different ways.
One of the most well-known methods of decision psychology is the theory of subjective expected utility, which describes the rational behavior of the person making the choice.
Rational choice is often based on experience, and there are theories that can apply this approach on proven mathematical grounds so that subjectivity is minimized, for example, the theory of scenario optimization.
Group decision making (psychology)
In groups, people carry out joint action through active and complex processes. Usually they consist of three stages:
- initial preferences are expressed by group members;
- group members share information about these preferences;
- finally, the participants combine their views and make a common decision on how to solve this problem.
Although these steps are relatively trivial, judgments are often biased by cognitive and motivational biases.
The psychology of group decision making is the study of a situation in which people collectively make a choice of several alternatives. The choice in this case no longer applies to any particular person, because everyone is a member of the group. This is because all individuals and social group processes, such as social influence, contribute to the result. The choices made by the group often differ from the choices made by individuals. Group polarization is one of the most striking examples: groups tend to make choices that are more extreme than those made by individuals. Below you will read more about the group decision making process in social psychology.
Differences and their impact
There is much debate as to whether the difference between collective and individual thinking leads to better or worse results. According to the idea of ​​synergy, decisions made by a group often turn out to be far more effective and correct than those made by one person. Nevertheless, there are also examples when the choices made by the team turned out to be disastrous, erroneous. Therefore, many questions from the field of psychology of the leader and managerial decision-making are still open.
Factors affecting the behavior of other population groups also affect group actions. It was noted that, for example, groups with a high degree of solidarity tend to make joint choices faster. Moreover, when individuals make choices in a group, there is a tendency to be biased in discussing well-known information.
Social identification
The study of social identification inspires us to a more general approach to decision making in a group than the popular model of group thinking, which is just a narrow view of such situations.
Process and result
Decision making in groups is sometimes divided into two separate elements - the process and the result. The process relates to group interactions. Some of these ideas include building coalitions among participants, as well as influencing and persuading participants to each other. The use of demagogy and other political methods in such situations is often evaluated negatively, but this is a chance to deal with situations where participants are in conflict with each other, there are mutual dependencies that cannot be avoided, there are no neutral supervisory authorities, etc.
Systems and Technologies
In addition to the various processes that influence decision-making psychology, group choice support systems (GDSS) may also have different rules. The decision rule is very often the GDSS protocol that the group uses to select alternatives when planning scenarios. These protocols are often stored on a computer in various advanced corporations.
rules
Multiple leadership (lack of a single leader) and dictatorship, as two polar extremes, are less desirable as the rules of this social process, since they do not require the participation of a wider group to determine choice, and everything is tied exclusively to the will of one person (dictator, authoritarian leader and etc.), or, in the case of multiple governance, at the behest of a mindless majority. In the second case, the absence of obligations on the part of individuals in the group can be problematic at the stage of implementation of the choice made.
There are no perfect rules in this matter. Depending on how the rules are implemented in practice and in a particular situation, this can lead to moments when either the decision is not made at all, or when the accepted options are incompatible with each other.
Pros and cons
There are strengths and weaknesses of each of the above schemes of social decisions. Delegation saves time and is a good method of unleashing conflicts and problems of medium importance, but ignored participants can react negatively to such a strategy. Averaging answers blur the extreme opinions of some participants, but the final choice may disappoint many of them.
Election or voting is the most consistent scheme for making top-level choices, and it requires the least amount of effort. However, voting can lead to losing members of the team feeling alienated and reluctant to force themselves to put up with the will of the majority. Consensus schemes engage group members more deeply and tend to lead to high levels of solidarity. But it can be difficult for a group to make such decisions.
In making decisions, groups have many advantages and disadvantages. Groups, by definition, are made up of two or more people, and for this reason, naturally, have access to more information and are more able to process this information. However, they also have a number of commitments to make a choice, such as requiring more time to think and therefore a tendency to reckless or ineffective actions.
Some problems are also so simple that the group decision-making process leads to ridiculous situations when, figuratively speaking, there are too many cooks in the kitchen: when working on such trivial and everyday problems, excessive zeal of group members can lead to general failure. This is one of the main problems of making group decisions in social psychology.
The role of computers
The idea of ​​using computerized support systems was once proposed by James Mind to eliminate human errors. However, he notes that the events that took place after the Three Miles accident (the largest disaster in the history of US commercial nuclear power) did not inspire confidence in the effectiveness of some forms of choice made by systems. In some industrial accidents, independent safety parameter display systems have often failed.
Decision-making software is important in the work of autonomous robots, as well as in various forms of active support for industrial operators, designers and managers.
Due to the large number of considerations associated with the difficulties of choice, computer-based decision support systems (DSS) have been developed to help people consider the consequences of different ways of thinking. They can help reduce the risk of human error. DSSs that attempt to implement some cognitive selection functions are called intelligent support systems (IDSS). An active and intelligent program of this kind is an important tool for developing complex engineering systems and managing large technological and business projects.
Group Advantage
Groups possess great informational and motivational resources and, therefore, can surpass individuals. However, they do not always reach their maximum potential. Groups often do not have proper communication skills between participants. This means that group members lack the skills necessary to clearly express their thoughts and desires.
Misunderstanding between team members may be the result of restrictions in information processing and erroneous habits of perception of individual participants. In cases where an individual person (leader) controls the group, this may prevent others from contributing to the common cause. This is one of the axioms of the psychology of risk and decision making.
Maximizers and Satisfactors
Herbert A. Simon coined the phrase “limited rationality” to express the idea that the psychology of making a choice by one person is limited by available information, available time, and the ability to process information with one brain. Further psychological research revealed individual differences between the two cognitive styles: maximizers try to make the most optimal decision, while satisfactors just try to find an option that is “reasonably good”.
Maximizers, as a rule, take longer decisions in connection with the desire to maximize the result in all respects. They also most often regret their choice (perhaps because they are more likely to admit that the solution was not optimal than satisfactors).
Other discoveries
Psychologist Daniel Kahneman, who popularized the above terms, originally proposed by his colleagues Keith Stanovich and Richard West, suggested that a person’s choice is the result of the interaction of two types of cognitive processes: an automatic intuitive system (called "System 1") and a rational system (called "System 2 "). System 1 is a spontaneous, fast, and irrational decision-making system, and system 2 is judicious, slow, and associated with conscious thinking.
Styles and decision-making methods in engineering psychology were developed by Aron Katsenelinboygenom, the founder of predisposition theory. In his analysis of styles and methods, he mentioned the game of chess, saying that it reveals various strategies, in particular, the creation of methods that can be applied to other, more complex systems. The psychology of evaluation and decision making is also somewhat reminiscent of a game.
Conclusion
Difficulties of choice are a very important and relevant topic for modern society, the study of which cannot be dispensed with. Thanks to this article, you understood what decision-making psychology is, how it works, and what the best experts in the world think about it.