PROPER BEHAVIOUR AND RESPONSIBLE DECISION MAKING---- CIVICS FORM ONE
INTRODUCTION.
Behavior or behaviour is the range of actions and mannerisms made by organisms, systems, or artificial entities
in conjunction with themselves or their environment, which includes the
other systems or organisms around as well as the (inanimate) physical
environment. It is the response of the system or organism to various
stimuli or inputs, whether internal or external, conscious or subconscious, overt or covert, and voluntary or involuntary.Contents
Biology
Main article: Ethology
Although there is some disagreement as to how to precisely define
behaviour in a biological context, one common interpretation based on a
meta-analysis of scientific literature states that "behavior is the
internally coordinated responses (actions or inactions) of whole living
organisms (individuals or groups) to internal and/or external stimuli"[1]Behaviors can be either innate or learned.
Behavior can be regarded as any action of an organism that changes its relationship to its environment. Behavior provides outputs from the organism to the environment.[2]
Human behavior
Main article: Human behaviour
Human behavior is believed to be influenced by the endocrine system and the nervous system.
It is most commonly believed that complexity in the behavior of an
organism is correlated to the complexity of its nervous system.
Generally, organisms with more complex nervous systems have a greater
capacity to learn new responses and thus adjust their behavior.[citation needed]Other fields
Behavior outside of psychology includes physical property and chemical reactions.Earth sciences
In environmental modeling and especially in hydrology, a "behavioral model" means a model that is acceptably consistent with observed natural processes, i.e., that simulates well, for example, observed river discharge. It is a key concept of the so-called Generalized Likelihood Uncertainty Estimation (GLUE) methodology to quantify how uncertain environmental predictions are.See also
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Some have argued that most decisions are made unconsciously, if not involuntarily. Jim Nightingale, author of Think Smart – Act Smart, states that "we simply decide without thinking much about the decision process." In a controlled environment, such as a classroom, instructors might try to encourage students to weigh pros and cons before making a decision. This strategy is known as Franklin's rule. However, because such a rule requires time, cognitive resources and full access to relevant information about the decision, this rule may not best describe how people make decisions.[citation needed] Logical decision-making is an important part of all science-based professions, where specialists apply their knowledge in a given area to make informed decisions. For example, medical decision-making often involves a diagnosis and the selection of appropriate treatment. Some[which?] research using naturalistic methods shows, however, that in situations with higher time pressure, higher stakes, or increased ambiguities, experts use intuitive decision-making rather than structured approaches – following a recognition primed decision that fits the their experience – and arrive at a course of action without weighing alternatives. Recent robust decision research has formally integrated uncertainty into its decision-making model.[citation needed] Decision analysis recognized and included uncertainties in its theorizing since its conception in 1964.[citation needed] A major part of decision-making involves the analysis of a finite set of alternatives described in terms of evaluative criteria. Information overload occurs when there is a substantial gap between the capacity of information and the ways in which people may or can adapt. The overload of information can be related to problem≠ processing and tasking, which effects decision-making.[5] These criteria may be benefit or cost in nature. Then the problem might be to rank these alternatives in terms of how attractive they are to the decision-maker(s) when all the criteria are considered simultaneously. Another goal might be to just find the best alternative or to determine the relative total priority of each alternative (for instance, if alternatives represent projects competing for funds) when all the criteria are considered simultaneously. Solving such problems is the focus of multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA), also known as multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM). This area of decision-making, although very old, has attracted the interest of many researchers and practitioners and is still highly debated as there are many MCDA/MCDM methods which may yield very different results when they are applied on exactly the same data.[6] This leads to the formulation of a decision-making paradox. In regards to management and decision making, each level of management is responsible for different things. Top level managers look at and create strategic plans where the organization's vision, goals, and values are taken into account to create a plan that is cohesive with the mission statement. For mid-level managers, tactical plans are created with specific steps with actions that need to be executed to meet the strategic objective. Finally, you come to the front-line managers that are responsible for creating and executing operational plans. These plans include the policies, processes, and procedures of the organization. Each must take into account the overall goals and processes of the organization. Rational and irrational decision-makingIn economics, it is thought that if humans are rational and free to make their own decisions, then they would behave according to rational choice theory.[7] This theory states that people make decisions by determining the likelihood of a potential outcome, the value of the outcome and then multiplying the two. For example, with a 50% chance of winning $20 or a 100% chance of winning $10, people more likely to choose the first option.[7]In reality, however, there are some factors that affect decision-making abilities and cause people to make irrational decisions, one of them being availability bias. Availability bias is the tendency for some items that are more readily available in memory to be judged as more frequently occurring.[7] For example, someone who watches a lot of movies about terrorist attacks may think the frequency of terrorism to be higher than it actually is. Information overload
Problem analysis vs. decision-makingIt is important to differentiate between problem analysis and decision-making. The concepts are completely separate from one another. Traditionally, it is argued that problem analysis must be done first, so that the information gathered in that process may be used towards decision-making.[10]
Decision planningMaking a decision without planning is fairly common, but does not often end well. Planning allows for decisions to be made comfortably and in a smart way. Planning makes decision-making a lot more simple than it is.Decision will get four benefits out of planning: 1. Planning give chance to the establishment of independent goals. It is a conscious and directed series of choices. 2. Planning provides a standard of measurement. It is a measurement of whether you are going towards or further away from your goal. 3. Planning converts values to action. You think twice about the plan and decide what will help advance your plan best. 4. Planning allows for limited resources to be committed in an orderly way. Always govern the use of what is limited to you. (e.g. money, time, etc.)[13] Analysis paralysisAnalysis paralysis is the state of over-analyzing (or over-thinking) a situation, or citing sources, so that a decision or action is never taken, in effect paralyzing the outcome.Everyday techniquesDecision-making techniques can be separated into two broad categories: Group decision-making and individual decision-making techniques.Group decision-making techniques
Individual decision-making techniques
A need to use software for a decision-making process is emerging for individuals and businesses. This is due to increasing decision complexity and an increase in the need to consider additional stakeholders, categories, elements or other factors that effect decisions. Stages of group decision-makingAccording to B. Aubrey Fisher,[citation needed] there are four stages or phases that should be involved in all group decision-making:
Decision-making stepsEach step in the decision-making process may include social, cognitive and cultural obstacles to successfully negotiating dilemmas. It has been suggested that becoming more aware of these obstacles allows one to better anticipate and overcome them.[22] The Arkansas program presents eight stages of moral decision-making based on the work of James Rest:
Cognitive and personal biasesBiases usually creep into decision-making processes. Many different people have made a decision about the same question (e.g. "Should I have a doctor look at this troubling breast cancer symptom I've discovered?" "Why did I ignore the evidence that the project was going over budget?") and then craft potential cognitive interventions aimed at improving the outcome of decision-making.Here is a list of commonly-debated biases in judgment and decision-making.
Post-decision analysisEvaluation and analysis of past decisions is complementary to decision-making; see also mental accounting and postmortem documentation.Cognitive stylesInfluence of Myers-Briggs typeAccording to behavioralist Isabel Briggs Myers, a person's decision-making process depends to a significant degree on their cognitive style.[31] Myers developed a set of four bi-polar dimensions, called the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). The terminal points on these dimensions are: thinking and feeling; extroversion and introversion; judgment and perception; and sensing and intuition. She claimed that a person's decision-making style correlates well with how they score on these four dimensions. For example, someone who scored near the thinking, extroversion, sensing, and judgment ends of the dimensions would tend to have a logical, analytical, objective, critical, and empirical decision-making style. However, some[who?] psychologists say that the MBTI lacks reliability and validity and is poorly constructed.Other studies suggest that these national or cross-cultural differences exist across entire societies. For example, Maris Martinsons has found that American, Japanese and Chinese business leaders each exhibit a distinctive national style of decision-making.[32] Optimizing vs. satisficingHerbert A. Simon coined the phrase "bounded rationality" to express the idea that human decision-making is limited by available information, available time and the mind's information-processing ability. Simon also defined two cognitive styles: maximizers try to make an optimal decision, whereas satisficers simply try to find a solution that is "good enough". Maximizers tend to take longer making decisions due to the need to maximize performance across all variables and make tradeoffs carefully; they also tend to more often regret their decisions (perhaps because they are more able than satisficers to recognise that a decision turned out to be sub-optimal).[33]Combinatorial vs. positionalStyles and methods of decision-making were elaborated by Aron Katsenelinboigen, the founder of predispositioning theory. In his analysis on styles and methods, Katsenelinboigen referred to the game of chess, saying that “chess does disclose various methods of operation, notably the creation of predisposition – methods which may be applicable to other, more complex systems.”[34]In his book, Katsenelinboigen states that apart from the methods (reactive and selective) and sub-methods (randomization, predispositioning, programming), there are two major styles: positional and combinational. Both styles are utilized in the game of chess. According to Katsenelinboigen, the two styles reflect two basic approaches to the uncertainty: deterministic (combinational style) and indeterministic (positional style). Katsenelinboigen’s definition of the two styles are the following.
The combinational style features a clearly formulated limited objective, namely the capture of material (the main constituent element of a chess position). The objective is implemented via a well-defined, and in some cases, unique sequence of moves aimed at reaching the set goal. As a rule, this sequence leaves no options for the opponent. Finding a combinational objective allows the player to focus all his energies on efficient execution, that is, the player’s analysis may be limited to the pieces directly partaking in the combination. This approach is the crux of the combination and the combinational style of play.[34] The positional style is distinguished by:
The positional style serves to:
NeuroscienceThe anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), orbitofrontal cortex and the overlapping ventromedial prefrontal cortex are brain regions involved in decision-making processes. A recent neuroimaging study[37] found distinctive patterns of neural activation in these regions depending on whether decisions were made on the basis of perceived personal volition or following directions from someone else. Patients with damage to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex have difficulty making advantageous decisions.[38]A recent study[39] of a two-alternative forced choice task involving rhesus monkeys found that neurons in the parietal cortex not only represent the formation of a decision but also signal the degree of certainty (or "confidence") associated with the decision. Another recent study[40] found that lesions to the ACC in the macaque resulted in impaired decision-making in the long run of reinforcement guided tasks suggesting that the ACC may be involved in evaluating past reinforcement information and guiding future action. Emotion appears able to aid the decision-making process. Decision-making often occurs in the face of uncertainty about whether one's choices will lead to benefit or harm (see also risk). The somatic-marker hypothesis is a neurobiological theory of how decisions are made in the face of uncertain outcome. This theory holds that such decisions are aided by emotions, in the form of bodily states, that are elicited during the deliberation of future consequences and that mark different options for behavior as being advantageous or disadvantageous. This process involves an interplay between neural systems that elicit emotional/bodily states and neural systems that map these emotional/bodily states.[41] Although it is unclear whether the studies generalize to all processing, subconscious processes have been implicated in the initiation of conscious volitional movements. See the Neuroscience of free will. Decision-making in adolescents vs. adultsDuring their adolescent years, teens are known for their high-risk behaviors and rash decisions. There has not, however, been that much research in this area. Recent research[citation needed] has shown, though, that there are some differences in cognitive processes between adolescents and adults during decision-making. Researchers have concluded that differences in decision-making are not due to a lack of logic or reasoning, but more due to the immaturity of psychosocial capacities, capacities that influence decision-making. Examples would be impulse control, emotion regulation, delayed gratification and resistance to peer pressure. In the past, researchers have thought that adolescent behavior was simply due to incompetency regarding decision-making. Currently, researchers have concluded that adults and adolescents are both competent decision-makers, not just adults. However, adolescents’ competent decision-making skills decrease when psychosocial capacities become present.Recent research[citation needed] has shown that risk-taking behaviors in adolescents may be the product of interactions between the socioemotional brain network and its cognitive-control network. The socioemotional part of the brain processes social and emotional stimuli and has been shown to be important in reward processing. The cognitive-control network assists in planning and self-regulation. Both of these sections of the brain change over the course of puberty. However, the socioemotional network changes quickly and abruptly, while the cognitive-control network changes more gradually. Because of this difference in change the cognitive-control network, which usually regulates the socioemotional network, [the adolescent?] struggles to control the socioemotional network when psychosocial capacities are present.[clarification needed] When adolescents are exposed to social and emotional stimuli, their socioemotional network is activated as well as areas of the brain involved in reward processing. Because teens often gain a sense of reward from risk-taking behaviors, their repetition becomes ever more probable due to the reward experienced. In this, the process mirrors addiction. Teens can become addicted to risky behavior because they are in a high state of arousal and are rewarded for it not only by their own internal functions but also by their peers around them. This is why adults are generally better able to control their risk-taking because their cognitive-control system has matured enough to the point where it can control the socioemotional network, even in the context of high arousal or when psychosocial capacities are present. Also, adults are less likely to find themselves in situations that push them to do risky things. For example, teens are more likely to be around peers who peer pressure them into doing things, while adults are not as exposed to this sort of social setting.[42][43] See also
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