Is there any science behind our decisions?

Are we prone to make certain choices more than others? What leads us to #decide?

An opinion piece.

Some decisions affect our day-to-day and others cascade to magnanimous effects that are harder to see and understand at first.

Why did you pick a certain shade of jeans? Why did you make a second cup of coffee this am? Why did you choose the major you did? Is there any science behind it or are we rolling and making things up as we please?

Did I choose a picture of diverse bodies modelling inner-wear for a blog that speaks about decisions? Is it my conclusion that diversity leads to better judgement or is it my diverse cognitive ability that fuels the idea that inclusion is somehow thought-provoking? Is my conclusion, assumption if you please, off on another capacity? Am I biased to think this way due to my upbringing, exposure, environment, my prior experiences?

Decision-making is the cognitive process of selection. We all know this (thanks Google, Wikipedia!). It is fueled by known and unknown notions that our mind has processed, perceived and has been subjected to, consciously or unconsciously. How else would I know two spoons of sugar would be too sweet for a cup of coffee had I not experienced it? Isn't that too subjective to me, even though it's more of a common hypothesis? Can we then say that experience leads to better decisions? In others, we may have to rely on our capacity to imagine, empathise, sympathise, hypothesise?

Would a person's capability to assess and imagine several possible alternates be a cause for poor or better decision making? Would that be rational or irrational? I may have confused myself at this point, but I'm hanging on a thread, clearly!

What is the goal?

The goal of this blog may be beyond your control but goal setting in itself is a huge step. Clearly defining goals and objectives shows a coherent, if not superior, understanding of the problem at hand. Goals can be, pardon me for stating the obvious, small or large, immediate or gradual, life-threatening or mere entertainment. But does it ever stop there?

Isn't it a huge part of goal setting to gauge response time and the nature of the decision to be made? Otherwise, how do we even define the goal if we were not to imagine and anticipate its circumstances and settings?

A fire? Put it off or call 911?

It's a decision, not a goal, you say. Wouldn't putting off a fire be a spur-of-the-moment goal if you were to see one? However, it would be bumped up to a goal status only if we were to recognise it as a threat. How would I know it to be a threat if I did not have the experience or knowledge of how dangerous fires can be?

The power to perceive the situation as a threat is crucial here. Me deciding that a fire needs to be put off depends on my ability to recognise the situation as a threat - is the fire burning in a fireplace or in a campfire? It requires me to know and understand a safe, controlled environment vs a rogue one. Once I've identified the problem and set the goal: put off the fire! I can then, proceed to decide what my role will be in it. What if I were four years old and happily watch on, not knowing it to be a threat? We can argue here that my survival instinct might help me but aren't survival mechanisms based on our ability to perceive threats?

Ok! Let's pause and move to something that won't make you and me anxious. A fire probably isn't the safest. Do you see what I did there?

Where is the information?

Every information gathered, imagined or real, rational or irrational, has a bearing on future decisions from that point on.

Let's take a seemingly innocent decision: what to order at the bar? What goes into this decision? Time of the day, whether or not I'm waiting for company, whether or not I have a reservation, what is my mood, how was my day so far, how am I dressed - all of these have a bearing on which drink I will choose. Or for the most part, I presume, for all of us.

Information for our decisions is always right there - all around us and within us. Which job offer to pick? Should I ask for a promotion? What do I major in?

We are constantly evolving according to the information we are fed and are constantly perceiving. Even the risks we take are driven by where we are in life and where we'd like to get to: be it romantically, emotionally, financially.

The loop of evaluation/feedback loop?

Aren't we all in a broad sense constantly reacting and taking action based on the consequences of our decisions? We chose where to rent based on a number of things, but mostly, almost always, it revolves around its affordability. We can afford or not afford something based on all the decisions we've made up until now, or for that matter, our family and ancestors. Whether you chose to study hard, chose not to, picked a particular skill that earns you those $$$ or chose to support family, etc. whatever the decisions - the consequences. Positive or not. Then comes the loop.

We evaluate and strive on. It could be anything from buying an automobile to getting married to going to college. Some decisions don't have this kinda impact like what shade of lipstick I bought, or what t-shirt or even what sandwich I ate for lunch. Then I learn about sustainability and how long textiles take to decompose, all the one-time-use plastic wrapped around my sandwich. Then, I googled what ingredients my lipstick has!

Science or not, decisions that involve helping animals and other humans are the safest!