Decision-making

This article is about decision-making as analyzed in psychology. For a broader discipline, see Decision theory. For decision-making in groups, see Group decision-making.
Sample flowchart representing a decision process when confronted with a lamp that fails to light

In psychology, decision-making (also spelled decision making and decisionmaking) is regarded as the cognitive process resulting in the selection of a belief or a course of action among several possible alternative options. It could be either rational or irrational. The decision-making process is a reasoning process based on assumptions of values, preferences and beliefs of the decision-maker.[1] Every decision-making process produces a final choice, which may or may not prompt action.

Research about decision-making is also published under the label problem solving, particularly in European psychological research.[2]

  1. ^ Herbert Alexander Simon (1977). The New Science of Management Decision. Prentice-Hall. ISBN 978-0136161448.
  2. ^ Frensch, Peter A.; Funke, Joachim, eds. (1995). Complex problem solving: the European perspective. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. ISBN 978-0805813364. OCLC 32131412.