Are you in control of your own decisions?
Our brain is wired in a particular ways and this wiring, while very good for some things, is imperfect and makes us susceptible to certain errors and mistakes in our decision making, says Dan Ariely, author of Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions.
Moreover, because these mistakes are a part of us, we are repeatedly fooled by them in predictable and consistent ways.
“Our irrational behaviours are neither random nor senseless — they are systematic,” he writes. “We all make the same types of mistakes over and over.”
Take vision, for instance. We have lots of practice with it and more of our brain is dedicated to vision than to any other activities. But we get things wrong time and time again. Click here and here to put this to the test.
Ok, consider this — if we make mistakes in vision, what are the chances that we won’t make mistakes in other domains? Particularly in those that are more complex (dealing with insurance, money, etc.), and ones —like decision making and economic reasoning — in which we have less practice?
Not very high, says Ariely, who outlines his thesis in this excellent lecture.
It’s all a bit unsettling since it's apparent that some, and probably many, of our decisions are made by unconscious processing before we really become consciously aware of them.Tell us, do you think your decision making is influenced in similar ways?
By Gordon Powers, MSN Money
Posted by: buy it | Jan 13, 2022 9:00:49 PM
What an incredible book!
Posted by: Bonaventure | Feb 15, 2022 11:41:22 AM
Excellent topic and point of view. We see this in how we buy things, more like how we are sold on things.
Another is where we leave the decision making to someone else. Could be a product of our upbringing.
"I have to talk to my parents". " I have to talk to my friends." etc
"I have to think about it some more." Do we make a better decison or any decison after more research?
Blink by Malcolm Gladwell has some very interesting research on this.
We can break out of this cycle and improve our decision making skills.
http://beallthatyoucanbebd.blogspot.com/