Decision Making

Having recently written an article on this blog about making decisions by instinct rather than conscious thought, I was interested to see in today's papers that recent research has shown much the same thing. 

The conscious or top-level function of the brain, when active, vetoes our initial subconscious decision — even when it is correct – leaving us unaware or distrustful of our instincts and at an immediate disadvantage.

Falling back on our inbuilt, involuntary subconscious processes for certain tasks is actually more effective than using our higher-level cognitive functions.

Comments

[Pascal Venier]

This irresistibly make me think of a novel, The Dice Man, which I started reading several years ago, but never finished: the idea was great, but the story was very disapointing.

One could think of emulating the Dice Man when having a decision to take: list six possible decisions listed 1 to 6, and throw the dice to choose which one to take. ;^)

Warning: It should be noted that the character included in his list the most absurd or even sometimes unlawful options in his lists of possible actions. Please do not try this at home!

[Andy]

There is a very interesting book that centres on the same concept. It is called 'Blink' and it is by Malcolm Gladwell. I would recommend it as well worth a read for those who haven't already.