Making effective decisions using the Emotion Embed Choice model

Decision making: Definition

Decision making (ref) can be defined as:

Ability to choose between competitive action courses based on the relative thematic quality of their potential outcomes

Education: Definition

Ability … to acquire or develop new, memory, knowledge or skills based on experience

Today’s Mindwear: Emotion Embed Choice (EIC) model

This session’s tutorial builds on the rational choice decision model we saw in Decision 1. Jane Larner’s Emotion Embed Choice (EIC) Model (Ref) is supported by 30 years of research. This is because of the important role of emotions in our decision making process.

This is a very powerful, useful model if you take the time to work a little with it. This is what you have to decide first: will I set aside time to work with it and give it a spin? (!)

Using this model, you start to decide between different options.

Solid lines A, B and C. You must first evaluate the expected utilities of different models (using the expected utility theory discussed in Decision-Making 1). At this point you also need to factor in your own personality (such as risk aversion). From this you get an overall evaluation of each option and the best option is chosen (Line d)

Adds EIC model Emotions This process works in two ways:

1. Expected emotion (line A). The ‘appropriateness’ of the outcome of each decision is judged by predicting one’s emotional response to that outcome. This expected emotional response serves as the input of the decision process.
2. The current emotion (Green dotted line) The second type of emotion in the EIC model consists of emotions that are felt during decision making. There are several sources for the current emotion:
   1. Decision-maker traits, such as chronic anxiety, depression or optimism (Line B ‘)
   2. Characteristics of alternatives such as uncertainty of possibilities lead to anxiety, or time delay which leads to anger / frustration or loss of interest (Line C ‘)
   3. Expected emotion (expected utility) can affect the present emotion – just as the prediction of a traumatic injury can now be feared (Line F) And it can work both ways – the current emotion from all influences can affect the expected emotion / utility of the result – such as anger can reduce the expected pain of injury (Line I)
   4. Thinking about a decision can lead to direct frustration or other emotions – such as if the options are almost equivalent or involve a difficult trade-off (Line G ‘)
   5. An unrelated event can also carry emotions from the weather or mood (Line H.)

And all this The current emotion It can directly affect how different options are evaluated in the decision making process (Line G) By:

• Affecting Which dimensions Decisions we focus on. For example, fear can lead to unpredictable and uncontrollable perceptions of negative events when anger sees negative events as predictable and something that we have the ability to overcome. Here are some familiar relationships from the research:

• Whether we use Shallow ‘heuristic’ processing (rapid rule-of-thumb and stereotypical) processing, or deep analytical processing With more focus on content. For example, positive moods or emotions (including anger) may be influenced by shortcut hints and stereotypes in judgment formation (such as simple titles, attraction or source skills, etc.) May focus more on impact and message content quality.
• Which Inspirational goals Guiding us – as certain emotions trigger underlying goals, indicating what we accept as an adaptive response to a situation / problem. Anger, for example, leads to a desire to change the situation and to fight or crush against another person or obstacle. Grief increases the preference for high-risk, high-reward options, while anxiety increases the preference for low-risk, low-reward options.

Mindwear strategy

Sometimes emotion helps in decision making. But sometimes they have unwanted effects that make our decisions biased. Here are some evidence-based strategies that can be used to reduce the unwanted effects of emotions on our decision making.

1. Strategies that dampen helpless emotions

Time delay. Full-blown emotions are short-lived, physiological responses quickly fade. The problem with this is that mood swings trigger immediate responses to adaptive anxiety – so it’s hard to let them pass before reaching a more thoughtful judgment or conclusion! So self-discipline and willpower are often required to make this strategy a success.

Suppression. Research indicates that this is a bad strategy, leading to many cognitive expenditures that are not conducive to decision making, such as memory loss of the onset of emotions.

Revaluation. Rearranging situations that lead to strong emotions – for example, reminding yourself after getting a bad grade that “this is just a test”, adopting the ‘first aid’ mentality to reduce the emotional impact of seeing someone hurt, or long forgotten dreams Trimming the job as an opportunity to follow.

Triggering counteracting emotions. Grief, for example, can lead us to focus on short-term gains rather than long-term gains. But gratitude has the opposite effect. So with gratitude when you are in a situation about which you are frustrated, you can overcome the short-term (often high risk) bias that goes with the blues. Alternatively, you may be able to replace anger for fear, offsetting the effects of the decision to feel out of control and out of risk. This can be helpful in any potential threat situation.

2. Strategies that ‘bracket out’ helpless emotions

Mindfulness / meta-awareness. Most of the negative effects of our emotions happen automatically without awareness. Being more cognitively aware of their decision-making processes can help us to blame emotions at their exact sources, helping to reduce the influence of biased emotions on judgment and decision making (e.g., weathering reduces its impact on well-being judgment). Also, forcing oneself to be more ‘accountable’ (e.g., expecting an expert audience to justify one’s decision) can also reduce the impact of biased emotions (although they can still be strongly felt).

Choose ‘Default’ Reconstruction This method is more consistently effective because it requires less effort! For example, if cafeterias are organized in such a way that the first meals you walk before are healthy alternatives, the ‘instant spending’ food choices you make due to hunger do not derail your health goals. For another example, many U.S. states require people to wait before buying a gun, which reduces any immediate effect of temporary anger. And couples have to wait 1 to 6 days to get married after getting the marriage license.

Embedded Mindware: Apps

Thinking of logical choice (solid lines A and C in EIC model) can be helped by apps like FYI decision. This allows you to (a) identify and weigh the various criteria relevant to your decision, (b) identify the different options you have, (6) evaluate each option in terms of weighted criteria to come up with an overall ‘best option’. (Although the app does not factor in the probability of different results, which you should consider.)

EIC model walk-through

Let’s work with an example.

We have to decide which project to commit to next month and we have two options: Project X and Project Y. We can’t do both! We’ve just completed a project and we’re proud of what we’ve done with it. And I want to move the speed forward.

First we identify that we reasonably consider each option in terms of benefits and costs. Benefits can come from a sense of interest in the project (how inspiring it is) or a sense of rapid progress, as well as the results of completing each project. There may be costs such as effort or stress involved, delays or failure to complete the project. It is important to imagine the expectations / predictions in the EIC model Psychological effects Advantages and costs of each option (Line A) We also have to judge the disadvantages of succeeding in what we set out to do – how likely are we to complete Project A or Project B as intended? Have we factor in all the uncertainty?

From all this information, we should be able to estimate the ‘expected utility’ for two options – Project A or Project B. This is the starting point for a good decision. We can choose based on this process – but the EIC model helps us go deeper and make better quality decisions.

We need to reflect on ourselves The current emotion And how they can influence our judgment and decision making process. In this case:

1. Your personality – such as over-optimism and self-confidence – can make you recklessly overestimate your chances of success (Line B ‘) Knowing yourself is important here.
2. Characteristics of options that have an immediate emotional impact on you: For example, delaying an option can lead to feelings of frustration that negatively affect your decision, especially if your motivations are directed to instant gratification right now (Line C ‘)
3. We can focus too much on the expected emotion when we imagine such a project failing – which can overwhelm our decision-making process with a sense of ‘fear of failure’; Or, conversely, the joy of imaginary success may favor a well-rounded verdict towards the Snap decision (Line F)
4. Emotions of pride that still remain from the previous project Carries And gives us a more biased view of our own ability and ability to control the next project (Line H.)

After considering all this, you can judge that you have to give yourself something Time Let your current sense of pride or current positivity erode into a little more neutrality so that it can give you more objectivity about the uncertainties involved. You can try too Reframing Fear of failure otherwise: ‘If it fails, it will be a valuable learning experience’. This can help one of the options become more attractive in a more logical way. You can imagine there Your decision is justified Someone, to give you a more useful isolation from the unwanted mental liver.

After all this, you must be good to go!

IQ Mindwear Core Architecture Walk-Through

Here is the EIC model in our main architecture.

• Expanding your cognitive abilities through Gated N-Back training will help you understand and apply the rules and techniques of the EIC model.
• Mindfulness / meta-awareness will help you to reflect on your own decision making process and identify the emotions that may influence your decision.
• In the process of intelligent thinking: Possibility The need to visualize different outcomes and emotional reactions; Argument / Argument Needed to calculate expected utilities based on weighted cost and sum of benefits; Proof Useful for gathering information that may be relevant to your decision-making – such as ‘reality verification’ and asking others how realistic your options may be; And The value The thematic value of different outcomes is what you need in your judgment – the ‘utility’ of the consideration which will include the emotional response.
• After working with the EIC model for a while, your decision may also benefit Incubation – Through meditation, daydreaming, confusion or sleep, you will be able to make the right decision when you are alert and focus on the subject again.

IQ Mindwear Exercise

Try working through the Emotion Embed Choice (EIC) model. You need to make an important decision, considering the potential for different outcomes and their expected costs and benefits (utility and associated emotion). But also choose all the possible psychological effects on your decision. Consider also how you can improve your decision making by using some of the mindware techniques described above. Put the IQ Mindware core architecture here as a more moderate framework for your work.