University of Algiers 2 2022/2023

Department of English
Third Year-Groups: 1,2,11,12,13,14
Cognitive Psychology
Mrs. Mouhoubi
12- Decision-making

1-Decision making in Psychology

Decision-making is regarded as the cognitive process resulting in the selection of a belief or a

course of action among several possible options. Every decision making process produces a
final choice. It can be an action or an opinion. It begins when we need to do something but we do
not know what. Therefore, decision making is a reasoning process which can be rational or
irrational, and can be based on explicit assumptions or tacit assumptions.

2-Types of Decisions

2.1-Programmed decisions: Not all decisions have major consequences or even require a lot of
thought. For example, before you come to class, you make simple and habitual decisions such as
what to wear, what to eat, and which route to take as you go to and from home and university. You
probably do not spend much time on these decisions. These types of straightforward decisions are
termed programmed decisions. These are decisions that occur frequently enough that we develop an
automated response to them. The automated response we use to make these decisions is called
the decision rule.

2.2-Non-programmed decisions: Decisions that are unique and important require conscious
thinking, information gathering, and careful consideration of alternatives. These are called non-
programmed decisions. For example, a crisis situation also constitutes a non-programmed decision
for companies.

3-Major Steps in the Decision-Making Process

The decision-making process is a systematic endeavour that commonly involves the following
steps:

1-Identify the Challenge : To make a decision, one must first identify a problem that requires a
solution. If the problem is recognized incorrectly, the chance of making the wrong decision is
high.

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2-Identify Alternatives :While it may sound unnecessary, a good decision-making process aims to
identify as many alternative solutions for a particular challenge. The reason is that more
alternatives provide the decision-maker with greater flexibility to evaluate strengths and
weaknesses for every possibility.

3-Assess the Alternatives : at this part of the decision-making process, the final decision is made.
At this stage, the team should recognize the most viable choices and gather all the relevant data and
various available options.

4-Employ a Final Decision : once a particular decision is made, implementation follows.

5-Assess the Decision : after a given period, it is advisable to look back at the final decision and
evaluate whether it solved the problem and met the intended goals. If so, note down what worked
for future reference. If not, learn from the mistake and begin the decision-making process again.

3-Common Problems in Decision-making

1-Confirmation bias : throughout life, we all begin to form concrete ideas and beliefs. When we are
more eager to seek evidence in favour of our ideas or beliefs than against them, this is
called confirmation bias. This is a consequence of fixation (inability to see other perspectives)
and mental set (solving problems the way we have solved similar ones before).

2-Representativeness Heuristic: we all build prototypes (mental image) of people, places, and
things in our world. Our brains form prototypes to understand and categorize our world, but we get
into trouble when we believe our prototypes are always true. The representativeness heuristic is
when we estimate the likelihood of an event based on whether or not it fits the prototypes we have
formed of people, places, things, or events.

3-Availability Heuristic : we may also fall victim to the availability heuristic while making
decisions. The availability heuristic is when we estimate the likelihood of events based on how
available they are in our memory or how vivid similar events occurred previously. The availability
heuristic can lead to us placing our fear in the wrong places.

4-Overconfidence: confidence is not a bad thing. People who have a lot of self-confidence usually
live happily, make tough decisions easily, and seem competent. But when we are too confident in

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the accuracy of our beliefs and judgments, it may lead to errors. In fact, people who are
overconfident are usually more likely to be wrong.