Future Assignments: Psychology of Decision Making - Reflection

This homework assignment delves into the psychology of decision-making, exploring the influence of values, risk perception, and biases on individual choices. The student reflects on personal experiences, such as leading a university sports team and facing ethical dilemmas in a nursing program, to illustrate key concepts from the assigned readings. The assignment examines how values, shaped by circumstances and experiences, impact decision-making processes, often leading to conflicts between existing beliefs and alternative choices. It also analyzes risk perception and its relation to fear and anxiety, highlighting the role of knowledge and pre-conceived notions in shaping decisions. Furthermore, the assignment discusses the impact of biases on decision-making, using examples of conflicting situations related to ethical practices. Finally, it explores the concept of Neutral Omnipartial Rule Making (NORM) and its application in ethical dilemmas, emphasizing the importance of moral obligations and the potential impact of disclosing sensitive information. References are provided to support the arguments and concepts presented in the assignment.

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Future assignments
Name of the student
University name
Author’s note

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Reading 3.3
Values are guided by the inherent knowledge and moral obligations possessed by an individual.
The personal and ethical values possessed by an individual have a profound effect on the life
processes of a person. The current section of the chapter focuses upon a number of aspects which
can have a profound effect on the decision making and judgemental skills of an individual.
Therefore, the manner of deconstruction of the problems, phrasing of the questions, eliciting
of responses can exercise huge influences upon the judgmental patterns of an individual. The
response elicitation procedures may become a major instrumental tool for affecting the process
of inculcation of values by an individual. As argued by Herben & Goldberg (2014), the processes
of decision making is very complex and have to pass through multiple layers of cognition. The
values possessed by an individual along with the present circumstances can have a huge impact
upon the decision or judgment making. This often results in a decisional glitch where an
individual does not possess a coherent opinion. The lability in judgment could be attributed to a
number of factors such as habituation and eagerness for learning possessed by an individual.
The stimulus presentation is the second most important stage where homogeneity of
information along with limited knowledge about alternatives could impact the decision
making of an individual(Summerfield & De Lange., 2014)
Explanation
However, I think the values are based upon the ever changing circumstances and challenges
encountered by an individual. In this respect, being the captain of my university sports team I
would need to emphasize upon the present situation and circumstances before taking up a
particular decision which works in the favour of the different members of my sports team.

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Though, I have often found it difficult in arriving at a decision which would be agreed upon by
most of team members. In such situations there is a constant conflict between existing values and
weighing of the alternatives.
Reading 4.3
The current head analyses the perception of risk possessed by an individual and the responses
elicited by the evaluation of risk upon the decision making of an individual. The assessment of
the risk could be directly related to Maslow’s theory of hierarchy, where the complex fears could
be neutralized only with the evaluation of the more direct and pertinent fears. The deconstruction
of risk and fear in the minds of an individual could be explained on the basis of a number of
cumulative theories. The theories could be diversified into different components such as the
knowledge theory, personality theory, economic theory and political theory. The knowledge
theory has the most direct and pronounced effect on the decision making of an individual. As
mentioned by Coghill, Seth, & Matthews (2014), much of the risk perception is often
influenced by paradoxes or the value sets incorporated within an individual.
Explanation
I had come across a number of different perspectives regrading the assessment and neutralization
of fear during my university days. In this respect, much of my anxieties would stem from the
pre-conceived notion where any new choices taken up me could have a profound effect on my
future. I had to choose from a number of courses presented to me in my university module. My
decision making was based upon a set of ideologies regrading the ample amount of benefits
offered by different courses. I had been more inclined towards taking up nanotechnology as my
future concern. However, I was hyper anxious attributed to the high costs involved in the

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nanotechnology courses. I guess I personally wanted to avoid the complexities associated with
the course, much of the hypothesis was put in my mind from relevant sources. Thus, the reflexes
play a pivotal role in shaping the personality attributes of an individual which further governs the
choices.
Reading 5.1
Decision making is affected by rationality and may vary from person to person. In this respect,
the psychology of perception sets the living world as a standard against which the decision
making or the rationale is done. Additionally, the psychology of thinking forms the basis for the
rationale or the decision making. In this context, the biases in people can be seen as a hindrance
which further challenges the realization and the affirmation of the self goals (Tsunada et al.
2016). The judgemental biases are further supported by researches and statistical evidences.
Explanation
I have personally faced such decision making biases owing to the overlapping facts and
information made available to me. I had to produce a power point presentation based upon the
current trends in marketing intelligence as a part of my university course work. However, I had
very little or no time available for the data collection and presentation. This is because we had a
series of exams within the seminar presentation. One of the friends copied much of the data
available over the internet with little or no manipulation. Moreover, his work turned out to be
well and he received a token of appreciation for that. However, I could not resort to the means of
false representation of facts and data. In this respect, I was affected with the basic psychological
perception in my mind regrading fair business practices. On the contrary my friend was affected

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with the oblivion which focussed more upon profit than ethics. I believe such conflicting
situations could also be attributed to the real world.
Reading 6.3
The last section of the chapter focuses upon Neutral Omnipartial Rule Making (NORM). This
stems from the various factors which are taken into consideration for the presentation of a choice
on a moral ground(Newell & Shank, 2014). The process evaluates the underlying logic which
forms the basis of our moral decision making. The NORM is based upon the philosophical and
cultural attributes which forms the basis of decision making of a person. NORM also includes
publicly elicited and general responses in the process of decision making.
Explanation
In this respect, I had to face an ethical dilemma in my practice as a trainee nurse during my
nursing postgraduate program. I had to deal with patients who were receiving care services for
end of life palliative care. My moral obligation was to disclose to them every trivial details their
regarding their present health conditions. However, disclosing the fact about terminal illness to a
patient would often mean lowering the hope and positive attitudes present in a patient which
could also affect their recovery.

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References
Coghill, D. R., Seth, S., & Matthews, K. (2014). A comprehensive assessment of memory, delay
aversion, timing, inhibition, decision making and variability in attention deficit
hyperactivity disorder: advancing beyond the three-pathway models. Psychological
medicine, 44(9), 1989-2001.
Herben, T., & Goldberg, D. E. (2014). Community assembly by limiting similarity vs.
competitive hierarchies: testing the consequences of dispersion of individual
traits. Journal of Ecology, 102(1), 156-166.
Newell, B. R., & Shanks, D. R. (2014). Unconscious influences on decision making: A critical
review. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 37(1), 1-19.
Riskin, L. L. (2013). Inner and Outer Conflict.
Summerfield, C., & De Lange, F. P. (2014). Expectation in perceptual decision making: neural
and computational mechanisms. Nature reviews. Neuroscience, 15(11), 745.
Tsunada, J., Liu, A. S., Gold, J. I., & Cohen, Y. E. (2016). Causal contribution of primate
auditory cortex to auditory perceptual decision-making. Nature neuroscience, 19(1), 135.