Abstract
The chapter provides a broad review of theories of decision making, starting from a dominant cognitive view and shifting to more recent emphases on the essential roles of noncognitive factors such as motivation and emotion. The chapter distinguishes between rational and intuitive decision-making approaches and explores this continuum to reveal an overall nuanced understanding of decision processing. A comprehensive review of research studies examining the impact of goal motivations and personal agency beliefs on decision making, and a closer look at the role of affect, emotion, and stress, highlights the numerous influences on decision making and the different pathways decision-makers can use to arrive at satisfactory decision outcomes. With a focus on adolescents and adults in the general population, the chapter also explores the roles of personal and developmental factors in decision making, such as age, gender, personality, individual differences, and social and cultural influences. After establishing a broad theoretical context, the chapter presents an updated version of the Pathways Model of Decision Processing, an exploratory framework for guiding decision-making study and research involving individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adler, N. J. (1991). International dimensions of organization behavior (2nd ed.). PWS-Kent Publishing.
Allen, D. (2011). Information behavior and decision making in time-constrained practice: A dual-processing perspective. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 62, 2165–2181.
Ayal, S., Rusou, Z., Zakay, D., & Hochman, G. (2015). Determinants of judgment and decision-making quality: The interplay between information processing style and situational factors. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 1088. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01088
Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. Freeman.
Baumeister, R. F., Vohs, K. D., Nathan DeWall, C., & Zhang, L. (2007). How emotion shapes behavior: Feedback, anticipation, and reflection, rather than direct causation. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 11(2), 167–203. https://doi.org/10.1177/1088868307301033
Bechara, A., & Damasio, A. R. (2005). The somatic marker hypothesis: A neural theory of economic decision. Games and Economic Behavior, 52(2), 336–372. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geb.2004.06.010
Bechara, A., Damasio, H., Damasio, A., & R. (1997). Deciding advantageously before knowing the advantageous strategy. Science, 275(5303), 1293–1295.
Bechara, A., Damasio, H., Damasio, A. R., & Lee, G. P. (1999). Different contributions of the human amygdala and ventromedial prefrontal cortex to decision making. Journal of Neuroscience, 19(13), 5473–5481. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.19-13-05473.1999
Boksem, M. A. S., & Tops, M. (2008). Mental fatigue: Costs and benefits. Brain Research Reviews, 59(1), 125–139. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brainresrev.2008.07.001
Brake, T., Walker, D. M., & Walker, T. (1995). Doing business internationally: The guide to cross-cultural success. Irwin.
Brown, R. (2004). Consideration of the origin of Herbert Simon’s theory of ‘Satisficing’’ (1933-1947). Management Decision, 42(10), 1240–1256. https://doi.org/10.1108/00251740410568944
Bruine de Bruin, W., Parker, A., & Fischhoff, B. (2007). Individual differences in adult decision making competence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92, 938–956. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.92.5.938
Byrne, K. A., Peters, C., Hunter, C., Willis, H. C., Phan, D., Cornwall, A., & Worthy, D. A. (2020). Acute stress enhances tolerance of uncertainty during decision making. Cognition, 205, 104448. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2020.104448
Byrnes, J. P. (1998). The nature and development of decision making: A self-regulation model. Erlbaum.
Cauffman, E., Shulman, E., Steinberg, L., Claus, E., Banich, M., Graham, S., et al. (2010). Age differences in affective decision making as indexed by performance on the Iowa Gambling Task. Developmental Psychology, 46, 193–207.
Choi, I., Koo, M., & Choi, J. (2007). Individual differences in analytic versus holistic thinking. Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin, 33, 691–705. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167206298568
Cohen, A. B. (2009). Many forms of culture. The American Psychologist, 64(3), 194–204. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0015308
Cross, C. P., Copping, L. T., & Campbell, A. (2011). Sex differences in impulsivity: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 137(1), 97–130. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0021591
De Martino, B., Kumaran, D., Seymour, B., & Dolan, R. J. (2006). Frames, biases, and rational decision making in the human brain. Science, 313, 684–687.
Delaney, R., Strough, J., Parker, A. M., & de Bruin, W. B. (2015). Variations in decision-making profiles by age and gender: A cluster-analytic approach. Personality and Individual Differences, 85, 19–24. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2015.04.034
Diamond, A. (2002). Normal development of prefrontal cortex from birth to young adulthood: Cognitive functions, anatomy, and biochemistry. In D. Stuss & R. Knight (Eds.), Principles of frontal lobe function. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195134971.003.0029
Diamond, A. (2013). Executive functions. Annual Review of Psychology, 64, 135–168. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-113011-143750
Eagly, A. H. (1995). The science and politics of comparing women and men. American Psychologist, 50(3), 145–158. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.50.3.145
Etzioni, A. (1988). Normative-affective factors: Toward a new decision-making model. Journal of Economic Psychology, 9, 125–150.
Eysenck, M. W., Derakshan, N., Santos, R., & Calvo, M. G. (2007). Anxiety and cognitive performance: Attentional control theory. Emotion (Washington, DC), 7(2), 336–353. https://doi.org/10.1037/1528-3542.7.2.336
Finucane, M., Mertz, C., Slovic, P., & Schmidt, E. (2005). Task complexity and older adults’ decision-making competence. Psychology and Aging, 20, 71–84. https://doi.org/10.1037/0882-7974.20.1.71
Frijda, N. H. (1986). Studies in emotion and social interaction. The emotions. Cambridge University Press; Editions de la Maison des Sciences de l’Homme.
Galotti, K. M. (2002). Making decisions that matter: How people face important life choices. Erlbaum.
Gelfand, M. J., Raver, J. L., Nishii, L., Leslie, L. M., Lun, J., Lim, B. C., … Yamaguchi, S. (2011). Differences between tight and loose cultures: A 33-nation study. Science, 332, 1100–1104.
George, J. M., & Dane, E. (2016). Affect, emotion, and decision making. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 136, 47–55. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2016.06.004
Gigerenzer, G. (2004). Dread risk, September 11, and fatal traffic accidents. Psychological Science, 15(4), 286–287. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0956-7976.2004.00668.x
Gigerenzer, G., & Goldstein, D. G. (1996). Reasoning the fast and frugal way: Models of bounded rationality. Psychological Review, 103(4), 650–669. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.103.4.650
Gigerenzer, G., & Selten, R. (2001). Rethinking rationality. In G. Gigerenzer & R. Selten (Eds.), Bounded rationality: The adaptive toolbox (pp. 1–12). The MIT Press.
Gigerenzer, G., Galesic, M., & Garcia-Retamero, R. (2013). Stereotypes about Men’s and Women’s intuitions: A study of two nations. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 45, 62–81. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022113487074
Gilovich, T., Vallone, R., & Tversky, A. (1985). The hot hand in basketball: On the misperception of random sequences. Cognitive Psychology, 17, 295–314.
Glockner, A., & Witteman, C. (2010). Beyond dual-process models: A categorisation of processes underlying intuitive judgment and decision making. Thinking and Reasoning, 16(1), 1–25.
Gottfredson, L. (1997). Mainstream science on intelligence: An editorial with 52 signatories, history, and bibliography. Intelligence, 24(1), 13–23. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0160-2896(97)90011-8
Greitzer, F. L., Podmore, R., Robinson, M., & Ey, P. (2010). Naturalistic decision making for power system operators. International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction, 26, 278–291.
Gumpel, T. (1994). Social competence and social skills training for persons with mental retardation: An expansion of behavioral paradigm. Educational and Training in Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, 29, 194–201.
Gutnik, L. A., Hakimzada, A. F., Yoskowitz, N. A., & Patel, V. L. (2006). The role of emotion in decision making: A cognitive neuroeconomic approach towards understanding sexual risk behavior. Journal of Biomedical Informatics, 39(6), 720–736. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbi.2006.03.002
Haier, R. J. (2016). The neuroscience of intelligence. Cambridge University Press.
Hertwig, R., Hoffrage, U., & the ABC Research Group. (2013). Simple heuristics in a social world. Oxford University Press.
Hickson, L., & Khemka, I. (1999). Decision making and mental retardation. In L. M. Glidden (Ed.), International review of research in mental retardation (Vol. 22, pp. 227–265). Academic Press.
Hickson, L., & Khemka, I. (2001). The role of motivation in the decision making of people with mental retardation. In H. N. Switzky (Ed.), Personality and motivational differences in persons with mental retardation (pp. 199–256). Erlbaum.
Hickson, L., & Khemka, I. (2013). Problem solving and decision making. In M. Wehmeyer (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of positive psychology and disability. Oxford University Press.
Hickson, L., & Khemka, I. (2014). The psychology of decision making. In R. Hodapp (Ed.), International review of research in developmental disabilities (Vol. 47, pp. 185–229). Elsevier.
Hoch, S. J., & Loewenstein, G. F. (1991). Time inconsistent preferences and consumer self-control. Journal of Consumer Research, 17, 492–507.
Hockey, G. R. J. (2011). A motivational control theory of cognitive fatigue. In P. L. Ackerman (Ed.), Decade of behavior/science conference. Cognitive fatigue: Multidisciplinary perspectives on current research and future applications (pp. 167–187). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/12343-008
Hofstede, G. (2011). Dimensionalizing cultures: The Hofstede model in context. Online Readings in Psychology and Culture, 2(1). https://doi.org/10.9707/2307-0919.1014
Hunt, E. (2011). Human intelligence. Cambridge University Press.
Izard, C. E. (2009). Emotion theory and research: Highlights, unanswered questions, and emerging issues. Annual Review of Psychology, 60, 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.60.110707.163539
Janis, I. L., & Mann, L. (1977). Decision making: A psychological analysis of conflict, choice, and commitment. The Free Press.
Juliusson, E. A., Karlsson, N., & Gärling, T. (2005). Weighing the past and the future in decision making. European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 17(4), 561–575. https://doi.org/10.1080/09541440440000159
Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, fast and slow. Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.
Kahneman, D., & Klein, G. (2009). Conditions for intuitive expertise: A failure to disagree. American Psychologist, 64(6), 515–526.
Kahneman, D., & Tversky, A. (1979). Prospect theory: An analysis of decision under risk. Econometrica, 47(2), 263–291. https://doi.org/10.2307/1914185
Khemka, I., & Hickson, L. (2006). The role of motivation in the decision making of adolescents with mental retardation. In L. M. Glidden & H. N. Switzky (Eds.), International review of research in mental retardation, volume 31. Elsevier.
Khemka, I., & Hickson, L. (2017). The role of positive psychology in interpersonal decision making. In K. A. Shogren, M. Wehmeyer, & N. N. Singh (Eds.), Handbook of positive psychology in intellectual and developmental disabilities: Translating research into practice (pp. 145–171). Springer.
Klein, G. (1997). The recognition-primed decision (RPD) model: Looking back, looking forward. In C. E. Zsambok & G. A. Klein (Eds.), Naturalistic decision making (pp. 131–140). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Klein, G. (1998). Sources of power: How people make decisions. MIT Press.
Klein, G. (2008). Naturalistic decision making. Human Factors, 50(3), 456–460. https://doi.org/10.1518/001872008X288385
Klein, G. (2009). Streetlights and shadows: Searching for the keys to adaptive decision making. MIT Press.
Kruglanski, A. W. (1996a). Motivated social cognition: Principles of the interface. In E. T. Higgins & A. W. Kruglanski (Eds.), Social psychology: Handbook of basic principles (pp. 493–520). The Guilford Press.
Kruglanski, A. W. (1996b). A motivated gatekeeper of our minds. In R. M. Sorrentino & E. T. Higgins (Eds.), Handbook of motivation and cognition. Guilford.
Kruglanski, A. W. (1996c). Goals as knowledge structures. In P. M. Gollwitzer & J. A. Bargh (Eds.), The psychology of action: Linking cognition and motivation to behavior (pp. 599–618). Guilford Press.
Kuhl, J. (1986). Motivation and information processing: A new look at decision making, dynamic change, and action control. In M. Sorrentino & E. T. Higgins (Eds.), Handbook of motivation and cognition: Foundations of social behavior. Guilford.
Lam, C. L. M., Leung, C. J., Yiend, J., & Lee, T. M. C. (2020). The implication of cognitive processes in emotional bias. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 114, 156–157.
Leprohon, J., & Patel, V. L. (1995). Decision making strategies for telephone triage in emergency medical services. Medical Decision making, 15, 240–253.
Lerner, J. S., Li, Y., Valdesolo, P., & Kassam, K. (2015). Emotion and decision making. Annual Review of Psychology, 66(1), 799–823.
Loewenstein, G. (1996). Out of control: Visceral influences on behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 65, 272–292. https://doi.org/10.1006/obhd.1996.0028
Loewenstein, G. F., Thompson, L., & Bazerman, M. H. (1989). Social utility and decision making in interpersonal contexts. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57(3), 426–441. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.57.3.426
Loewenstein, G. F., Weber, E. U., Hsee, C. K., & Welch, N. (2001). Risk as feelings. Psychological Bulletin, 127(2), 267–286. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.127.2.267
Loomes, G., & Sugden, R. (1982). Regret theory: An alternative theory of rational choice under uncertainty. The Economic Journal, 92, 805–824.
Markus, H. R., & Kitayama, S. (1991). Culture and the self: Implications for cognition, emotion, and motivation. Psychological Review, 98(2), 224–253. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.98.2.224
Martin, L., & Delgado, M. R. (2011). The influence of emotion regulation on decision making under risk. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 23(9), 2569–2581.
Miyake, A., Friedman, N. P., Emerson, M. J., Witzki, A. H., Howerter, A., & Wager, T. D. (2000). The unity and diversity of executive functions and their contributions to complex “Frontal Lobe” tasks: A latent variable analysis. Cognitive Psychology, 41(1), 49–100. https://doi.org/10.1006/cogp.1999.0734
Neisser, U., Boodoo, G., Bouchard, T. J., Boykin, A. W., Brody, N., Ceci, S. J., et al. (1996). Intelligence: Knowns and unknowns. American Psychologist, 51, 77–101.
Nelissen, R. M. A., Dijker, A. J. M., & De Vries, N. K. (2007). Emotions and goals: Assessing relations between values and emotions. Cognition and Emotion, 21(4), 902–911. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699930600861330
Newell, B. R., Lagnado, D. A., & Shanks, D. R. (2015). Straight choices: The psychology of decision making. Psychology Press.
O’Brien, L., Albert, D., Chein, J., & Steinberg, L. (2011). Adolescents prefer more immediate rewards when in the presence of their peers. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 21, 747–753.
Oyserman, D., Coon, H. M., & Kemmelmeier, M. (2002). Rethinking individualism and collectivism: Evaluation of theoretical assumptions and meta-analyses. Psychological Bulletin, 128(1), 3–72. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.128.1.3
Pacini, R., & Epstein, S. (1999). The relation of rational and experiential information processing styles to personality, basic beliefs, and the ratio-bias phenomenon. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76(6), 972–987. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.76.6.972
Payne, J. W., Bettman, J. R., & Johnson, E. L. (1993). The adaptive decision maker. Cambridge University Press.
Poon, K. (2018). Hot and cool executive functions in adolescence: Development and contributions to important developmental outcomes. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 2311.
Prencipe, A., Kesek, A., Cohen, J., Lamm, C., Lewis, M., & David, Z. (2011). Development of hot and cool executive function during the transition to adolescence. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 108(3), 621–637.
Reyna, V. F., & Brainerd, C. J. (1995). Fuzzy-trace theory: An interim synthesis. Learning and Individual Differences, 7(1), 1–75. https://doi.org/10.1016/1041-6080(95)90031-4
Reyna, V. F., & Brainerd, C. J. (2011). Dual processes in decision making and developmental neuroscience: A fuzzy-trace model. Developmental Review, 31, 180–206.
Reyna, V. F., & Zayas, V. (2014). The neuroscience of risky decision making. American Psychological Association.
Rozin, P., & Royzman, E. B. (2001). Negativity bias, negativity dominance, and contagion. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 5(4), 296–320. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15327957PSPR0504_2.S2CID4987502
Sagi, A., & Friedland, N. (2007). The cost of richness: The effect of the size and diversity of decision sets on post-decision regret. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 93(4), 515–524. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.93.4.515
Schaie, K. W., & Willis, S. L. (2002). Adult development and aging (5th ed.). Prentice-Hall.
Schwartz, B., Ben-Haim, Y., & Dacso, C. (2011). What makes a good decision? Robust satisficing as a normative standard of rational decision making. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 41(2), 209–227.
Selten, R. (2001). What is bounded rationality? In G. Gigerenzer & R. Selten (Eds.), Bounded rationality: The adaptive toolbox (pp. 13–36). The MIT Press.
Shah, J. Y., & Kruglanski, A. W. (2000). Aspects of goal networks: Implications for self regulation. In M. Boekaerts, P. R. Pintrich, & M. Zeidner (Eds.), Handbook of self regulation (pp. 85–110). Academic.
Shah, A. K., & Oppenheimer, D. M. (2008). Heuristics made easy: An effort-reduction framework. Psychological Bulletin, 134(2), 207–222. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.134.2.207. Simon’s (1967, 1983).
Simon, H. A. (1956). Rational choice and the structure of the environment. Psychological Review, 63(2), 129–138.
Simon, H. A. (1967). Motivational and emotional controls of cognition. Psychological Review, 74(1), 29–39. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0024127
Simon, H. A. (1983). Reason in human affairs. Stanford University Press.
Solomon, R. C. (1993). The passions: Emotions and the meaning of life. Hackett.
Stanovich, K. E. (2010). Decision making and rationality in the modern world. Oxford University Press.
Stanovich, K. E. (2011). Rationality and the reflective mind. Oxford University Press.
Stanovich, K. E., West, R. F., & Toplak, M. E. (2017). The rationality quotient. MIT Press. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/9780262034845.001.0001
Starcke, K., & Brand, M. (2012). Decision making under stress: A selective review. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 36, 1228–1248.
Steinberg, L. (2010). A dual systems model of adolescent risk-taking. Developmental Psychobiology, 52, 216–224.
Sternberg, R. J., & Kaufman, S. B. (Eds.). (2011). Cambridge handbook of intelligence. Cambridge University Press.
ten Brinke, L., Lee, J. J., & Carney, D. (2019). Physiological reactions when observing lies and truths: Evidence and an intervention to enhance accuracy. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 117, 560–578. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000175
Toda, M. (1980). Emotion in decision making. Acta Psychologica, 45, 133–155.
Toplak, M. E., West, R. F., & Stanovich, K. E. (2017). Real-world correlates of performance on heuristics and biases tasks in a community sample. Journal of Behavioral Decision making, 30, 541–554. https://doi.org/10.1002/bdm.1973
Triandis, H. C. (2004). The many dimensions of culture. Academy of Management Executive, 18, 88–93. https://doi.org/10.5465/AME.2004.12689599
van den Bos, R., Homberg, J., & de Visser, L. (2013). A critical review of sex differences in decision making tasks, focus on the Iowa Gambling Task. Behavioral Brain Research, 238, 95–108.
Varnum, M. E., Grossmann, I., Kitayama, S., & Nisbett, R. E. (2010). The origin of cultural differences in cognition: Evidence for the social orientation hypothesis. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 19(1), 9–13. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721409359301
Weiner, B. (1986). An attributional theory of motivation and emotion. Springer-Verlag.
Weller, J., Ceschi, A., Hirsch, L., Sartori, R., & Costantini, A. (2018). Accounting for individual differences in decision-making competence: Personality and gender differences. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 2258. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02258
Yates, J. F., & de Oliveira, S. (2016). Culture and decision making. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 136, 106–118.
Yuan, J., Tian, Y., Huang, X., Fan, H., & Wei, X. (2019). Emotional bias varies with stimulus type, arousal and task setting: Meta-analytic evidences. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 107, 461–472. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2019.09.035
Zeelenberg, M., Nelissen, R., Breugelmans, S., & Pieters, R. (2008). On emotion specificity in decision making: Why feeling is for doing. Judgment and Decision making, 3, 18–27.
Zelazo, P. D., & Carlson, S. M. (2012). Hot and cool executive function in childhood and adolescence: Development and plasticity. Child Development Perspectives, 6(4), 354–360.
Zelazo, P. D., Carlson, S. M., & Kesek, A. (2008). Development of executive function in childhood. In C. A. Nelson & M. Luciana (Eds.), Handbook of developmental cognitive neuroscience (2nd ed., pp. 553–574). MIT Press.
Zhao, J. (2006) The Effects of Induced Positive and Negative Emotions on Risky Decision making. Talk Presented at the 28th Annual Psychological Society of Ireland Student Congress, Maynooth, May 2006, 22 p.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Khemka, I. (2021). Theoretical Perspectives on Decision Making. In: Khemka, I., Hickson, L. (eds) Decision Making by Individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. Positive Psychology and Disability Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-74675-9_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-74675-9_6
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-74674-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-74675-9
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science and PsychologyBehavioral Science and Psychology (R0)