The Decision-Making Process

Decision-making is a part of life. As individuals, we make decisions all day long, and it becomes so common that we hardly recognize most of them as, actually, decisions. Choosing a cup of tea instead of a cup of coffee is a decision, as is which tie to wear – assuming we wear ties, that is. We rarely spend any time making them and so most seem automatic and unimportant. 

Decisions range from the trivial to the critical but, if you think about it, most fall into the category of the trivial. This does not mean that we do not use, to some degree, a process to make them. 

Here are some approaches most of us use in our individual decision-making:

1. Consider a few alternatives and pick one
2. Research the alternatives and pick the one that seems “best,” whatever that means to the individual at the time
   
3. Look at what others (friends, family members, neighbors, co-workers) have done in similar situations – and pick one
   – We may ask those others how they made the decision and how it worked out
   – Or we may not
   
4. Whim
   

I contend that these approaches are all essentially the same. Each of these is actually using number 1 above: considering a few alternatives and picking one. In numbers 2 and 3, the only difference is that the individual is attempting to find information he does not have. I will devote the rest of this and the next article to this list but will actually start at the end of the list.

Number 4, Whim, may seem different from the others and to some extent it is a bit of a special case. Often, whim is actually backed up by some knowledge of the alternatives, whether we consciously consider them or not. Most of us have various bits and pieces of information stored away that can come forth when our mind is stimulated and interested. The problem is, decisions made on a whim are all too often made with minimal thought about other alternatives. They also are made, generally, quickly.

Decision by whim is often emotional decision-making and all too often it ends up being regretted. That said, it is more common than it should be, mainly because we are not taught how to make decisions in our world. We mainly learn by watching how those around us make their decisions.

Whim is the special friend of the salesman. A good salesman can, as we used to say when I was young, sell snake oil to snakes. They sell you the image of owning whatever it is, whether it be a car or a fancy stove or even a pair of socks. They also play on your emotions and will “sweeten the pot” by either offering you a deal or using various techniques to pressure you into making a decision right then, trying to get you to buy quickly and without a lot of thought. They know that if they let you think about it they are very likely not to get a sale. 

I had an uncle who was a traveling salesman and at one point he sold cemetery plots, calling them “underground apartments!” He was very successful at selling them, too. He was also a successful door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesman and was even a Fuller Brush Man (look it up if that is a new reference for you – a bit of the history of 20^th Century American capitalism). How did he be successful? By playing on the customer’s emotions and getting that whimsical sale.

In fact, whim may be the way a very large proportion of our decisions are made. How many times have you gone to the grocery store intending to buy a few specific items and come back with a couple of bags full of things not on your list? Some of the extras may have been of the “oh, yeah, forgot to put that on the list” variety but, at least for me, the rest are things I saw and just decided to buy without giving a thought to whether or not I needed it. I bought on whim, because at that moment I felt like it. 

Next week we will visit approaches 1 through 3 above and look at the advantages and drawbacks of each of them.