People make decisions all the time. What sandwich to order, whether to walk through that puddle or around it, what school to go to and so on. However, psychologists disagree on how good we are at making decisions.
"In the literature on human decision-making, there are two almost parallel stories," said Andreas Jarvstad of Cardiff University. "One goes, 'humans are terrible at making choices.' The other goes, 'humans are close to being as good as they possibly can be.'"
Jarvstad is an author of a new study on decision-making published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. His study is about choosing how long to spend on the task at hand.
The view that humans are both terrible and great at decisions may not be as strange as it seems. Psychological scientists have made a distinction between different kinds of decisions: low-level perceptual choices versus choices that involve higher level reasoning. For example, choosing where to put your feet is a low-level choice, whereas choosing where to invest your savings is a high level choice.
"Imagine you're running up a really rocky path. For each step, you have to decide which stone to step on. Some stones will be poorer choices than other stones," Jarvstad said. Previous studies suggest that people are good at this kind of decision, but poor at decisions that require a higher level of analysis like choosing between financial options.
However, Jarvstad's study suggests that this difference doesn't always exist. Together with colleagues, Simon K. Rushton and Ulrike Hahn of Cardiff University and Paul A. Warren of the University of Manchester, he set out to determine how well people make "time-on-task" decisions ? that is, decisions about how long to spend on the task at hand. Participants took part in a number of computer-based tasks involving either low-level (e.g. judging the direction of motion of a cloud of dots) or high-level (e.g. mental arithmetic) processing.
Getting an answer right earned a reward point; getting it wrong incurred a penalty point (points were later translated to money).
After spending time becoming familiar with the tasks, participants were given a fixed amount of time to complete as many or few trials as they liked. "Doing lots of trials very quickly might not be the best approach since the less time you spend on the task the greater the chance of an error. But spending a lot of time on very few trials might also be a bad idea since you limit the number of points you could possibly earn. The trick is finding the right balance between the two."
It turned out that people were good at finding the right balance. "It didn't seem to matter whether people were doing a low-level or a high-level task?they were equally good at deciding how much time to spend on these tasks," Jarvstad said. In fact, their participants ended up with nearly the same amount of money they would have earned if they had in fact made perfect decisions ? and that was true for low- as well as high-level tasks.
These findings suggest that perhaps humans really aren't intrinsically bad at high-level decision making and intrinsically good at low-level decision making after all. On reflection, noted Jarvstad, the idea that they would be is perhaps a little strange after all.
###
Association for Psychological Science: http://www.psychologicalscience.org
Thanks to Association for Psychological Science for this article.
This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.
This press release has been viewed 49 time(s).
red tails trailer joe pa dead laura dekker stephen colbert south carolina seal seal and heidi klum drew peterson untouchable
The China Tax Guide (Fifth Edition)
The Asia Tax Comparator (Complimentary Download)
Africa?s external finances recovered to pre-crisis levels with foreign investment, official development assistance and remittances estimated at $152.2 billion in 2011, according to the African Development Bank (AfDB).
Changing times have seen a lot of crime being increased. It is highly essential to be safe from all the criminal activities. It is your responsibility to save yourself and your family from any outside threat. Your home contains many valuables and thus protecting it is also one of your prime duties. You can reduce this responsibility of yours by just fitting in several Security CCTV cameras in your home. This way you will be able to keep a track of every movement in the home thus saving your loved ones and valuables.
You can try it directly on your pimples. When the body is strained as in the case of lamictal medicine, when the lamictal dosage is increased, this can cause the patient to get lamictal acne. However, the process of natural repair tends to leave marks on the skin. lowering the number of free radicals, scars therefore decreasing for molecular damage and maintaining healthy skin cells. Vitamin E is good for your skin and brings a glow to it. It separates the dead skin that clogs the pores of your skin. In most of these cases, the problem goes beyond merely being blemishes. Acne Scar Treatment Tips 1. Using tretinoin speeds up the skin? s remodeling process and helps heal post- inflammatory changes. Watch a video that shows you exactly what you must Do in order to maintain your pores clear and clean, what you sudden should do to find out how to get rid of acne marks and why at You will also learn how to reverse the acne situation if you have already done those things that should NEVER be done. It is used as a last resort due to acne the sudden acne breakout serious side effects such as liver damage that can occur from its long- term use. Fact: Acne is not caused by best a dirty environment. Methods and Treatments Diverse processes and treatment options are great as acne product scar cures but they really should only be carried out by professionals. The cleaner your blood the healthier your skin will be and your will not have a problem with acne. Food types rich in all these elements are recommended in this diet. Rinse it off after 15 minutes. You can also boil Fenugreek seeds in water and use the solution on acne scars after it cools down. Then you have to choose any type of colon sudden acne breakout cleansing process and buy the best colon cleansers for cleansing from the nearby pharmacy. This leads to increased break- outs and cystic acne that not even a harsh chemical like benzoyl peroxide can manage. In these acne cases, birth control breakout pills can be thoroughly effective in clearing the lesions and scars caused by the syndrome. Remember, someone allergic to aloe or chronic diarrhea patients is not allowed to use aloe. First, the user will have to apply the ProActiv Renewing Cleanser. 1. It takes longer ( 6 weeks) for the tea tree oil to be as effective, but participants in the study reported none of the side effects associated with benzoyl peroxide, such as redness, skin irritation, or dry skin. Loose, comfortable fitting clothing is best. It can help to reduce the swelling of your acne. best product for acne scars There is still however believable logic behind the warning ? that yes, too much chocolate ( particularly the milk and white varieties) can make acne worse because of its high sugar and fat content. Laser techniques are commonly used to help reduce the look of scars that have occurred due to acne. Pay attention to your habits and try to develop self- awareness and prevent yourself from over- doing it. Rectify this hormone imbalance and acne skin care will be a cinch! 
You can learn barter through the school of hard knocks, or you can learn from a barter professional. To truly succeed, treat the world of barter as you would any career. You can learn the ropes through a barter exchange training program, and learn the intricacies of this exciting world in no time. 
