Introduction
Decision making is an important area of study in psychology, because it ultimately affects behavior, as is demonstrated in studies discussing gambling and risky decisions. The research on factors affecting decision making is crucial, not just for the overall advancement of psychology, but because it has strong application value. It can be used for helping certain individuals make better decisions in important or stressful situations, and to decrease risky behavior overall.
Decision making is affected by a variety of factors. Gender seems to have the strongest effect on decisions regarding impulsivity, as is shown in studies using the Iowa Gambling task (e.g. Dretsch and Tipples, 2011). Gender differences are also present when making reward-related decisions under stress (Lighthall et al., 2012). Decision making is an executive function (Del Missier, Mantyla, and Bruine de Bruin, 2012). Demands on executive functioning are often considered more costly, closely connected with the conveyed costs of self control (Kool, McGuire, Wang, and Botvinick, 2013). Self-control requires looking past momentary gain for possible future rewards. Thus, the capacity for self-control influences decision making (Kool, McGuire, Wang, and Botvinick, 2013).
In addition, several studies focus on age-related changes in decision making. Children showed a change between age groups in the use of sequential decision making rules (Jansen, van Duijvenvoorde, and Huizenga, 2012). Adolescents were reported as making decisions based on risk and valence, much the way adults do. However, the research showed that while the amount of risky decisions made did not change throughout adolescence, decisions based on valence did change (Wolf, Wright, Kilford,...
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As Paul Thompson states in his article Startling Finds on Teenage Brains from the Sacramento Bee, published on May 25, 2001, “.These frontal lobes,which inhibit our violent passions, rash action and regulate our emotions, are vastly immature throughout the teenage years.” He also says that “The loss[of brain tissue] was like a wildfire, and you see it in every teenager.”. This loss of brain tissue plays a role in the erratic behavior of teens, who cannot properly assess their emotions and thoughts. During this period of brain tissue loss, teens are unpredictable, adults do not know what their teen’s next move will be, teens themselves do not even know what their next move will be. As we grow our brains develop, therefore teen brains are not fully developed, so they cannot be held to the same standards as adults.
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In “Why the teen brain is drawn to risk” the author attributes risky/bad teenage behavior to the fact that teenagers actually tend to over-estimate risks and put too much weight on the known risks while they tend to be much more open about unknown risks. The article gave the example of sexual activity leading to HIV. Teenagers when faced with this problem often look at the risk of contracting HIV. Teenagers also have greater tolerance for the uncertain. So where an adult would not do something because of unknown risks a teenager would be more likely to do
Decision-making is a cognitive process that results choosing one of the alternative options. When we think logically, we exclude emotions and use only rational method of selecting the best choice that achieves the best possible outcome and consequences. In our daily life, we take many decisions and many changes over it. So, the question is; what factors influence the decision making process? According to the article, frontal cortex is the part of the brain that responsible for decision making, the researchers assume that human reasoning and decision making depends on many levels of cognitive operations which depends on many support processes as emotions, attention and working memory. The reasoning process is also depends on the knowledge about the situation and options for actions.
The peak in risky behavior occurs at about age 17. The rates of risky behavior continue to rise, with a significant increase occurring in the past two decades. Risky behavior in adolescence can have both positive and negative effects. Positive effects risky behavior has during adolescence are individuation, self-determination, and it can create peer acceptance. The tendency to partake in risky behavior during adolescence can be contributed to rapid development of the emotional brain while the cortical areas continue to develop slowly, the need for sensation seeking, beliefs of invulnerability, and deviant behavior demonstrated by
Petranka, J. W., Harp, E. M., Holbrook, C. T., & Hamel, J. A. (2007, June).
In everyday real life situations, one keeps on making various decisions depending on a number of factors. Thus, decision-making is an integral tool in human life, and one cannot avoid it. In view of this, experts report that individuals make use of varying decision-making models to arrive at a decision that suits them. Here, the writer presents four decision-making models, namely the classical, behavioral, satisficing, and optimizing models.
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To begin with, the prefrontal cortex controls decision making, and it is underdeveloped in teens so they don’t always make the wisest decisions. The prefrontal cortex is the area of the brain that asks yourself “is this really a good idea?” or “what are the consequences of this idea?” (teens and decision making). This is among the last of areas of the brain to develop (scholastic). The mid 20’s of a person’s life is the prefrontal cortex is fully developed (Bernstein) Teens when on technology are likely to make a reckless decision (Bernstein). Such as, talking to strangers or even giving them their address. This
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