[Concestor0]

The majority of influences in the human decision making process are transparent to most of us. If there were some sort of program into which a person could enter all relevant data and have it spit out a decision I think that we would be shocked at how different our lives would be.

I have heard the expression "decision making machines" a few times to describe our minds. Despite the importance of quality decision making our ability and capacity to quickly and efficiently produce a decision seems to be just as important.

Our brains consume a substantial portion of our physical resources so efficiency is important, mulling over every little detail and re-assessing every choice every time is not efficient. This leads to a tendency to make assumptions, create biases and become narrow minded.

We also tend to protect our happiness, we are far more likely to make a decision that keeps us happy even at the expense of our long term benefit or the happiness of others. More often than not this means overlooking, discrediting or denying important information.

Unfortunately the answer to "how do we become better decision makers?" is not as simple as "think more carefully".

- people are accustomed to and comfortable with making decisions that are not well informed or considered.
- people are unaware of many of the factors that lead to a decision.
- people are often likely to make a decision that benefits them, especially in the short term.
- people are lazy (efficient) decision makers, they put in the minimum effort and time to make a personally satisfying decision.
- people are very resistant to making a decision that contradicts their social circle.
- not making a decision is often more distressing than making a poor decision.

In a nutshell, we are hard wired to make fast / happy decisions.