January 24

Cognitive Barriers To Environmental Action. Harvard Business School

Decision making Environment Trackbacks (0)

Cognitive Barriers to Environmental Action: Problems and Solutions

Source:  Harvard Business School Working Papers

We highlight three cognitive barriers that impede sound individual decision making that have particular relevance to behaviors impacting the environment. First, despite claiming that they want to leave the world in good condition for future generations, people intuitively discount the future to a greater degree than can be rationally defended. Second, positive illusions lead us to conclude that energy problems do not exist or are not severe enough to merit action. Third, we interpret events in a self-serving manner, a tendency that causes us to expect others to do more than we do to solve energy problems. We then propose ways in which these biases could actually be used to our advantage in steering ourselves toward better judgment. Finally, we outline the key questions on the research frontier from the behavioral decision-making perspective and debunk the myth that behavioral and neoclassical economic perspectives need be in conflict.

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July 23

Tough Choices: How Making Decisions Tires Your Brain

Research Executive function Choice Decision making Trackbacks (0)

The brain is like a muscle: when it gets depleted, it becomes less effective.

By On Amir

Scientific American

 The human mind is a remarkable device. Nevertheless, it is not without limits. Recently, a growing body of research has focused on a particular mental limitation, which has to do with our ability to use a mental trait known as executive function. When you focus on a specific task for an extended period of time or choose to eat a salad instead of a piece of cake, you are flexing your executive function muscles. Both thought processes require conscious effort-you have to resist the temptation to let your mind wander or to indulge in the sweet dessert. It turns out, however, that use of executive function—a talent we all rely on throughout the day—draws upon a single resource of limited capacity in the brain. When this resource is exhausted by one activity, our mental capacity may be severely hindered in another, seemingly unrelated activity. (See here and here.)...[more]

 

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Unfortunately no references are given with the article. The following appears in a comment:

More on Kathleen Vohs and the 2008 paper found at: http://www.csom.umn.edu/Page6301.aspx "Making Choices Impairs Subsequent Self-Control: A Limited-Resource Account of Decision Making, Self-Regulation, and Active Initiative," Kathleen D. Vohs, Roy F. Baumeister, Brandon J. Schmeichel, Jean M. Twenge, Noelle M. Nelson, and Dianne M. Tice, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (May 2008). CW