How do we make decisions?

Decision-making is fundamentally regarded in psychology as the cognitive process that leads to choosing a specific belief or course of action from multiple alternatives. It relies on the decision-maker's values, preferences, and beliefs, and can manifest as either rational or irrational. Beyond individual psychology, groups also engage in collective decision-making strategies, such as consensus-building, to arrive at widely accepted proposals.

What we know

• Decision-making is a cognitive process resulting in the selection of a belief or a course of action from several alternative options. [1, 2]
• The decision-making process is based on assumptions of values, preferences, and beliefs and can be either rational or irrational. [2]
• Consensus decision-making is a group process where participants work to develop proposals achieving broad acceptance. [4]
• Decision theory uses expected utility and probability to model how individuals would behave rationally under uncertainty. [3]

Where to go next

• the bigger pictureWhat is decision theory?
• a case in pointHow does consensus decision-making work?
• what caused itHow do political institutions shape economic phenomena?
• compared withHow do descriptive psychology and prescriptive decision theory differ?
• how we knowWhat evidence supports rational choice models in social sciences?
• an unexpected connectionHow does probability connect to philosophy?Decision theory bridges hard probability and analytic philosophy to mathematically model human choices.

Sources

• [1]decision making (Wikidata Q1331926) · CC0 1.0
• [2]Decision-making · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [3]Decision theory · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [4]Consensus decision-making · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [5]European Journal of Political Economy · CC BY-SA 4.0

Your path

1. What are the principles of statistical mechanics?
2. /What is thermodynamic temperature?
3. /What are the four main categories of navigation?
4. /How do we make decisions?