DECISION MAKING: THE POWER OF NEUROSCIENCE AND BEHAVIOR IN OUR DAILY LIVES – PART 2

Continuing our exploration of strategies for effective decision-making, this second part of the article addresses fundamental aspects, highlighting the importance of reflection and careful analysis in the pursuit of authentic choices aligned with our values and personal goals. In this section, we will delve even deeper into practical and reflective methods, aiming to empower the reader to face decision-making challenges with greater clarity and confidence. Fortunately, there are methods and strategies that can guide us towards more accurate decisions. It is possible to take some control and position ourselves ahead of circumstances. If you often find yourself postponing important decisions or letting others decide for you, it’s worth paying attention to the following tips:

1. Doubt! Doubt! Doubt!

Before making a hasty decision, it is essential to question and doubt first impressions. These immediate decisions tend to be superficial and based solely on momentary emotions, lacking the depth of perception and consistent logic. Moreover, it is important to understand the risks of relying solely on intuition. While intuition can be useful in certain situations, it is often influenced by cognitive biases, unconscious prejudices, or cognitive dissonance, leading to subjective decisions not based on concrete facts, prone to errors. When it comes to decision-making, doubt plays a crucial role. Let’s illustrate its importance with an example of self-fulfilling prophecies, highlighting how our beliefs can influence reality and impact our choices.

During the Great Depression of 1929, many banks were solvent, but rumors spread indicating otherwise. As a result, depositors, influenced by these rumors, rushed to withdraw their savings, triggering a banking crisis. This example demonstrates how our beliefs can create self-confirming realities. Therefore, it is essential to recognize how our thought patterns can shape our perceptions and decisions. For instance, consider a study conducted by Robert Rosenthal and Lenore Jacobson. In the 1960s, concerned about the potential impact of teachers’ beliefs on the performance of minority students, they discovered that such beliefs could influence teachers’ behavior towards students.

This often subtle influence resulted in different treatments and, consequently, different levels of academic performance. To avoid falling into the traps of biased schemas and intuition, it is important to take time for reflection and research. For example, if you are about to accept an offer for your car that is for sale, take some time to reflect on the pros and cons, research, and avoid making an immediate decision based solely on your need, emotion, or intuition. Go for a walk, engage in physical activity, or dedicate some time to a hobby. Upon returning to the issue, you will be more likely to make a rational decision, considering all aspects involved and avoiding being influenced only by momentary emotions. This process of questioning and reflection helps minimize the impact of emotions and feelings on the decision, allowing for a more objective and balanced analysis of the facts. Doubt your first impressions and question your intuitions. By doing so, you will be able to make better-founded decisions, less susceptible to cognitive biases and schemas that distort our perception of reality. I hope it is now clear: take time to doubt your certainties and question the validity of your intuition, and surely better choices will be made from now on.

• Have an Open Mind to Other Possibilities

When making decisions, it is crucial to recognize that our perceptions and understandings are limited by the world we know. Thus, it is imperative to allow ourselves to explore other options beyond the boundaries of our current knowledge. By adopting this open mindset, we not only broaden our horizons but also constantly challenge our own beliefs and assumptions. The continuous search for new knowledge and experiences is essential for our personal and professional growth, as it enables us to find innovative solutions and keeps us motivated to reach new heights of personal achievement. For example, imagine you are considering a career change after years of working in the same field. Although you have always seen yourself as a marketing professional, you have recently felt a growing curiosity about the field of information technology (IT).

However, your experiences and knowledge are predominantly related to marketing, and you feel insecure about exploring a completely new area. At this moment, having an open mind to other possibilities means being willing to consider transitioning to the IT field, even if it involves stepping out of your comfort zone and facing unknown challenges. By deciding to explore online courses on programming and technology to acquire basic knowledge about the subject, you expose yourself to new ideas, concepts, and perspectives that were previously beyond your reach. Gradually, you begin to realize that you possess skills and interests that align with the IT field, which motivates you to seek job opportunities in this area.

It is essential to understand that we impose our own cognitive limits. The secret to a successful life is to be open to challenges, constantly confronting our own inspirations, questioning our limitations, and expanding our horizons beyond what we believe is possible. When we allow ourselves to explore beyond the boundaries imposed by our own beliefs, we discover a vast universe of opportunities waiting to be explored.

By questioning our own convictions and remaining open to the unknown, we create space for personal growth and the discovery of new paths. It takes courage to challenge our own paradigms and accept that we may be mistaken or limited in our worldview. After all, it is in the gaps of uncertainty that we find the true essence of life and connect with our deepest potential.

Therefore, when facing the dilemma of changing careers, it is essential to have the courage to explore new possibilities, even if it means leaving the comfort zone and facing the unknown. Allow yourself to learn, grow, and reinvent yourself, as this is how we truly become the best version of ourselves. By challenging our own limits and being open to the new, we pave the way for a journey of self-discovery and personal fulfillment that transcends any obstacle we may encounter along the way. By keeping an open mind to other possibilities and committing to learning and growing, we not only expand our professional horizons but also open doors to new opportunities and achievements that we previously did not consider possible. This willingness to explore the unknown is essential for our personal and professional development.

• Avoid Making Decisions When Emotionally Distressed

Altered emotions can be powerful influencers during the decision-making process. However, it is important to recognize that making decisions when we are emotionally distressed can be detrimental because emotion hijacks our logical and strategic capacity. Instead of acting, we start reacting.

Every reaction is unconscious. Therefore, emotions can compromise various cognitive functions, including memory, attention, and decision-making. They tend to lead us to impulsive or repetitive decisions, limiting our ability to seek better and more flexible solutions. Additionally, emotions can blind us to the possible consequences, making it difficult to rationally assess the outcomes. Therefore, whenever you are emotionally overwhelmed, take some time to calm down and regain balance before making any important decision. This interval will allow a more objective and rational analysis of the situation, thus reducing the risk of making a decision based purely on the emotion of the moment.

For example, imagine you are in a crucial work meeting and a conflict arises with a colleague. Emotions start to boil, and you find yourself overcome with anger and frustration. In a flash, you consider confronting your colleague aggressively, but then you remember the importance of staying calm in moments of conflict.

You decide to step back and take a moment for yourself. You get up from the table, leave the room, and take a walk down the hall to clear your mind. During this interval, you manage to calm your mind and reflect on the situation more objectively.

When you return to the meeting, you address the conflict calmly and assertively, expressing your concerns constructively and seeking a solution that benefits everyone. Your measured and rational approach helps resolve the conflict effectively without harming your relationship with your colleague.

Therefore, when you find yourself in an emotionally charged situation, remember the importance of pausing and regaining balance before acting. This practice not only helps avoid impulsive decisions but also promotes more conscious and thoughtful decision-making, leading to more positive and satisfactory outcomes.

• Avoid Noise When Making Decisions

When making decisions in an increasingly digital world, it is essential to recognize the need to protect ourselves from external influences that can compromise our judgment. The environment we are in, along with the opinions of those around us and the impact of social media, can create a cacophony of noise that obscures our ability to decide with clarity and authenticity.

It is important to understand that these noises have the power to influence our emotions, leading us to a state of information overload. In this state, the demands on our cognitive system exceed our capacity to process them adequately. Consequently, we adopt various strategies to extend our cognitive resources, allowing us to handle this overload and make decisions more efficiently, though sometimes at the cost of accuracy and deep reflection.

To be effective, the strategies that our mind tends to follow need to meet two important requirements: being simple and fast, as well as being generally adequate in most situations. One such useful strategy is the use of heuristics, which are simple rules that help us make complex decisions quickly and easily, although they are often imprecise. We recognize that the world is complex and our information processing abilities are limited, so we automate some mental and behavioral activities to deal with this complexity. However, it is important to note that this automation may not be infallible, and in trying to optimize our reflection time, we often make mistakes, prioritizing efficiency over complete accuracy.

It is crucial to understand that you are the only one responsible for the outcome of your decisions. Even in situations where there is external influence, coercion, social pressure, or stress, the freedom of choice remains yours. Do not be swayed by justifications that seek to relieve responsibility or blame others. Taking control of your decisions is essential, as each choice represents an opportunity to exercise your autonomy and define your own path.

Avoiding noise during the decision-making process is essential in an increasingly digital world, where we are constantly bombarded with information and external influences. The excess of stimuli caused by noise, including the environment around us, external opinions, and especially social media, can obscure our ability to decide with clarity and authenticity.

It is crucial to understand that these noises have the power to alter our emotions, diverting us from the path of a thoughtful and rational decision. In a world flooded with stimuli, it is common to find ourselves in a state of information overload, where the demands on our cognitive system exceed our ability to process them adequately.

A realistic example of this phenomenon is the spread of fake news. Imagine that you are about to vote in an important election and are looking for information about the candidates. However, in doing so, you come across an excess of manipulated and distorted paid news, as well as countless false posts from thousands of profiles on social media. These contents portray situations that negatively alter your emotions towards one candidate, associating them with scandals and corruption, while depicting the other as the only viable option, based on supposed heroic deeds.

Faced with this flood of biased and emotionally charged information, it is easy to be influenced by these contents, as they not only affect your emotions but also your values and principles. When your cognitive capacity is hijacked by emotion, you are likely to suffer from cognitive dissonance, leading you to make a voting decision based on emotions and biases, instead of a rational analysis of the candidates’ proposals and qualifications.

To deal with this, it is common for you to unconsciously start to confirm your choice through confirmation bias. This distances you further from relevant real facts, reinforcing your initial decision and perpetuating a cycle that can lead to an even greater disconnection from the objective truth.

However, by taking the time to reflect on the sources of this information and checking other opinions and analyses from reliable sources, you can mitigate the impact of these external noises. Critically analyzing the veracity of the information, considering historical data, and seeking to understand the political platforms of each candidate from solid sources of information can help you avoid being influenced by misinformation and make a more informed voting decision aligned with your own values and interests.

Therefore, by avoiding noise and taking time to reflect during the decision-making process, we ensure that our choices are truly authentic and aligned with our personal goals, even in a digitized world full of external influences.

5. Do Not Make Decisions Based Solely on Your Beliefs

When making decisions, it is natural for us to be influenced by our personal beliefs and values. However, it is important to recognize that basing our decisions exclusively on our own beliefs can limit our vision and impair our ability to consider all relevant perspectives.

It is essential to understand that there are no absolute truths in the decision-making process. Life is full of possibilities and nuances, and a single solution rarely applies to all situations. Therefore, it is crucial to strive to broaden our vision and consider a variety of viewpoints before making a decision.

An effective method to avoid the trap of personal beliefs is to practice systemic thinking. This involves analyzing the situation holistically, taking into account not only our own opinions but also the perspectives of others involved in the process. By putting ourselves in others’ shoes and considering their arguments and concerns, we are able to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the situation and make more informed decisions.

It is important to emphasize that adopting this approach does not mean abandoning our own beliefs, but rather enriching them through dialogue and reflection. Conflicting different viewpoints can be challenging, but it is a valuable exercise that allows us to explore all facets of an issue and find more balanced and effective solutions.

Although this process may demand time and effort, the results are often surprising. By opening our minds to new perspectives and considering a wider range of options, we increase our chances of making decisions that are truly satisfying and beneficial for all involved.

So, when facing an important decision, remember not to limit yourself to your own beliefs. Be open to dialogue, conflict, and reflection, and practice systemic thinking to achieve more robust results aligned with your goals and personal values.

For example, let’s suppose you are considering a career change. Your personal belief is that financial stability is crucial for your happiness and well-being. Therefore, you tend to value job opportunities that offer high salaries and benefits.

However, by practicing systemic thinking, you decide to consider other perspectives. You talk to friends and family who work in different areas and discover that many of them find professional fulfillment in jobs that do not necessarily pay the highest salaries but offer a sense of purpose and personal satisfaction.

Additionally, you research the challenges and benefits of different sectors and discover that some areas, such as the technology industry or social entrepreneurship, offer opportunities for significant impact and personal growth, even if the initial salaries are more modest.

By analyzing this information holistically, you realize that your pursuit of financial stability may be limiting your options and preventing you from exploring careers that could provide a greater sense of personal fulfillment.

Based on this reflection, you decide to broaden your research and consider a variety of career opportunities, taking into account not only the financial aspects but also the potential for growth, personal satisfaction, and positive impact that each one offers.

By practicing systemic thinking and considering a wider range of perspectives, you are better equipped to make an informed decision aligned with your values and personal goals, resulting in a choice that promotes both your financial stability and your emotional well-being and professional fulfillment.

• Exercise the Practice of Giving Value

When making decisions, it is essential to adopt an analytical and reflective approach, taking into account various aspects that may influence the final outcome. In this process, it is important to:

• Measure the results, losses, and gains, as well as their short and long-term consequences.
• Compare different alternatives and use objective parameters to evaluate them fairly and impartially.
• Analyze the opinions for and against the decision but not be influenced solely by them.
• Avoid falling into the trap of making decisions based solely on the opinions of others, as this can undermine autonomy and authenticity in choice.
• Reflect on situations where losses are relatively small compared to the potential transformative gains, considering that risk may be worthwhile in the face of the opportunities offered.
• Persist in practicing giving more value to decisions, even if stepping out of the comfort zone is not natural, as this skill is fundamental for making more assertive and meaningful choices.

By following these principles, it is possible to ensure that each decision is carefully evaluated and aligned with personal goals and values, thus maximizing positive results and minimizing possible negative impacts.

For example, imagine you are considering a career change and pursuing a lifelong passion but are insecure due to fear of the unknown and financial concerns. You decide to apply the practice of giving value in decisions:

• First, you analyze the potential outcomes of pursuing your passion, considering both the positive aspects, such as personal fulfillment and happiness, and the negative aspects, such as possible financial challenges and professional uncertainties.
• Next, you compare this option with your current career, evaluating the gains and losses of each, as well as the short and long-term consequences.
• You also seek opinions from close people but do not let yourself be influenced solely by them, recognizing that the final decision must come from you and your own convictions.
• By reflecting on the transformative potential of pursuing your passion, even in the face of challenges, you decide to persist and give more value to this choice, recognizing that personal and emotional gain may outweigh any material loss.

In this way, by practicing the art of giving value in decisions, you feel more confident and secure in following your heart and pursuing a career that brings meaning and personal fulfillment, even in the face of uncertainties along the way.

•  Practice Mental Visualization

Before making a significant decision, practice the exercise of mental visualization. Imagine yourself in a scenario where each option is visually represented, allowing you to explore the potential outcomes of this choice not only in your own life but also in the lives of those around you, such as friends, family, and colleagues. Turn these possibilities into vivid and tangible mental images. Feel the emotions associated with each potential outcome, mentally anticipating both the benefits and challenges that may arise. This visualization practice not only increases your awareness of the consequences of your decisions but also strengthens your ability to assess long-term impacts, making your choices more informed and conscious.

For example, imagine you are considering accepting a job offer in a new city. Before making a decision, practice mental visualization: visualize yourself living in this new city, exploring the environment, interacting with potential colleagues, and imagining what your daily routine would be like. Next, imagine the potential consequences of this change in your personal life: how would it affect your family and social relationships? What would it be like for your children to attend a new school? By doing this exercise, you can anticipate the benefits, such as new career opportunities and personal growth, but also the challenges, such as adapting to a new environment and being away from loved ones. This visualization practice helps bring clarity to the pros and cons of the decision, allowing you to make a more conscious choice aligned with your values and life goals.

As we conclude this second part of the article, it is evident that the practice of giving value and the mental screen are powerful tools to guide our choices towards more satisfying and meaningful outcomes. By considering the perspectives presented and applying these principles in our lives, we strengthen our ability to make informed decisions aligned with our core values. We will further delve into these concepts in the third part, exploring new approaches and strategies to enhance our decision-making process. Stay tuned for the continuation of this fascinating topic!

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