Making decisions can feel like playing a frantic game of pinball, with our thoughts zipping around wildly. But, can understanding the science behind our choices help us regain some strategic control?
Did you know that the average adult makes between 33,000 and 35,000 decisions every day? Some of these are conscious, such as ‘What will I have for breakfast?’ or ‘Will I go to the gym today?’ but thousands of them are quietly informed by our subconscious biases.
Like many young people, I recently decided to leave behind my corporate nine-to-five job, and began a solo travelling adventure. It was by no means a snap decision, and made me think deeply about the entire decision-making process: how decisions are made, the different ways to approach them, and how to make what we might call the ‘right decisions’. Here’s what I learnt.
The brain and the decision-making process
What really happens in our minds when making decisions? Well, there is no simple answer. A multitude of neural, emotional, and hormonal triggers impact the choices that we make.
Research has examined the “changes in cerebral blood flow in participants playing interactive social games inside an MRI scanner”, as noted in 2020 research in InPsych, and found that blood flow increased to the prefrontal cortex in the brain. This is the “higher-order association centre in the brain”, responsible for “decision-making, reasoning, personality expression, maintaining social appropriateness, and other complex cognitive behaviours”, as stated in a 2023 paper in StatPearls. The limbic system, within the prefrontal cortex, is particularly important during decision-making, taking things like emotions and memories into account, which can result in irrational or unpredictable decisions.
A vast range of hormones impact the decisions we make, including oxytocin (which influences our social behaviour), cortisol (a stress hormone), dopamine (a feel-good hormone), hunger hormones, and many more.
Body sensations and decision-making
I’m sure you have heard of the expression, ‘butterflies in your stomach’ or ‘following your intuition’. But what do these phrases actually mean? Are these sensations informed by an internal logic, or something else?
Understanding butterflies
The feeling of butterflies can occur in many different circumstances – when we’re stressed, anxious, excited, or perhaps meeting a romantic partner. Far from being a mystical signal, the sensation is actually caused by a reduction of blood flow to our digestive system, triggered by the body’s fight-or-flight response. As our adrenaline or cortisol levels rise in response to a supposed ‘threat’, our heart rate increases, and blood rushes to our muscles and away from the digestive system. The blood vessels around our stomach and intestines then narrow, and the digestive system muscles contract.
What is intuition?
Often heralded as the best way to make decisions, intuition is tricky to define; it seems like an instinctual sense of self-preservation left over from days of old. However, scientists and psychologists believe that intuition is a largely subconscious process informed by ‘pattern-matching’ memories and situational context, which then guides our actions as a result. The automatic information generated in our brains by a scenario informs our judgements, which often don’t appear to require conscious thought.
Understanding decision paralysis
As we fixate upon decisions, many of us become more anxious, overwhelmed by numerous options, and concerned about future consequences – either positive or negative. Fearful of making a ‘mistake’ and regretting our decision, we may procrastinate, only to find that the decision looms larger when we return to it at a later date. This is decision paralysis.
Even when making a seemingly tiny decision, it can feel enormous. As our neural circuits fire and loop, like a merry-go-round, our bodies can overreact, producing stress hormones, which prepare us for a crisis.
Some people may even begin to feel physical indicators of stress, such as a raised heartbeat, increased blood pressure, faster breathing, and, in some cases, panic attacks.
Allowing stress to influence our decisions can lead to impulsivity, with the emotional limbic system dominating the logical and precise, prefrontal cortex. To escape this decision paralysis, we must wrestle back control, and recognise the real consequences of the decision, rather than our imagined ones.
Tips to help you make decisions
Reframe your thoughts
This technique is all about changing your perception about your decisions. During this practice, you should try to analyse your current thought processes, identify any negative thoughts, and then flip them on their head to find the positives. Throughout this process, try to be aware, realistic, and grateful.
Take time to reflect
Rushing decisions or acting rashly can lead to impulsive choices. Give yourself time to make the decision, as well as space to reflect and consider. Remember to be kind to yourself and give yourself a break, while setting a realistic deadline for your decision. You may find that other activities like journaling your thoughts, or meditating upon the issue, can help you decide.
Pro and con lists
You knew it was coming: it’s the tried and tested pro and con list. When making a pro-con list, it’s best to work in binaries, breaking down one decision, and examining the potential positive and negative outcomes. For example: ‘What would happen if I take the job?’ or ‘What would happen if I don’t take the job?’ If some pros or cons seem to outweigh each other, try assigning a numerical value to each statement, e.g. is this worth +5 points or -3 points?
Imagine yourself one year into the future
Remember, one decision is unlikely to entirely shift your reality forever. Imagine yourself as one year older (and, hopefully wiser) having made one decision – e.g. What would your life look like if you got a dog? What would it look like if you didn’t?’ How would these imagined realities differ? Perhaps this decision, which seems so enormous now, won’t make such a huge impact on your overall life and wellbeing.
Embrace your mistakes
The fortunate, and unfortunate, thing about mistakes is that, by the time you realise them, they have often already occurred. In the face of regret, it’s important to accept your mistakes, learn, and move on. Try to appreciate each mistake, and let them guide future actions. Nothing is gained by dwelling on, and being consumed by, your less fortunate choices.
Share the load
It can get very noisy in your head as you consider and reconsider different decisions. Speaking aloud can dispel the noise, and help you break free from stress spirals. Consider sharing your feelings and concerns with friends, family, and even a trained professional if you feel like you need the support. Talking through a decision can corral whirling ideas into clear trains of thought.
Accept the consequences
It is difficult to stomach, but there are consequences to all decisions in life, both good and bad. Accepting this fact from the outset of your decision will help you to make your choice. It’s all about weighing the value, or cost, of each consequence, and choosing the so-called ‘best approach’. Remember there is not always a ‘right decision’, you could live your life a million different ways, but you only get to experience one of those realities.
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