Characteristics Of Decision Making As The Cognitive Process

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 alternative possibilities. Every decision-making process produces a final choice, which may or may not prompt action. Decision-making is the process of identifying and choosing alternatives based on the values and preferences of the decision-maker.

Decision-making can be regarded as a problem-solving activity terminated by a solution deemed to be satisfactory. It is therefore a process which can be more or less rational or irrational and can be based on explicit or tacit knowledge.

Human performance has been the subject of active research from several perspectives:
• Psychological: examining individual decisions in the context of a set of needs, preferences and values the individual has or seeks.
• Cognitive: the decision-making process regarded as a continuous process integrated in the interaction with the environment.

Characteristics of Decision-Making
• Objectives must first be established
• Objectives must be classified and placed in order of importance
• Alternative actions must be developed
• The alternatives must be evaluated against all the objectives
• The alternative that is able to achieve all the objectives is the tentative decision
• The tentative decision is evaluated for more possible consequences
• The decisive actions are taken, and additional actions are taken to prevent any adverse consequences from becoming problems and starting both systems (problem analysis and decision-making) all over again
• There are steps that are generally followed that result in a decision model that can be used to determine an optimal production plan
• In a situation featuring conflict, role-playing may be helpful for predicting decisions to be made by involved parties

Decision