Monday, April 27, 2015

Choices

In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves.
The process never ends until we die.
 And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.
                                                                        Eleanor Roosevelt
.................

Choice implies judging the merits of multiple options and making a decision – selecting one or more of them. Selecting none is a choice – which is indecision. If the decision is complex, then reasoning, instinct and feeling become more intertwined.

Simple choices might include what to eat for dinner or what to wear – choices that have relatively low-impact. More complex choices might involve what job to select, making vows to a life partner, picking candidates in election, etc. – choices based on multiple influences and having greater or longer-lasting consequences.

Too many choices

Choice seduces the modern consumer everywhere and all the time – coffee can be tall, short, decaf, flavored, spiced, hot or iced, caramel flan, frappuccino. Any fast-food restaurant has a plethora of choices that confuse visitors from other countries. Being in line adds stress, which often leads to no response – one visiting relative called it “instant indecision”. Is so much choice a good thing?

Every day, everyone faces lots of decisions, large and small – what to eat for lunch, whether to change careers or pursue a new romantic relationship. 

How does the human brain decide? A new study (1) suggests that it relies on two separate networks to do so: one that determines the overall value – the risk versus reward – of individual choices. The other guides ultimate behavior.

Choice Paradox

In his TED talk on the “Paradox of Choice”, psychologist Barry Schwartz discusses a central principle of western societies: freedom of choice. He thinks that choice does not provide freedom, but paralyzes. It does not cause happiness, but dissatisfaction. Simpler times, with fewer choices, are appealing to many. (2)

Daniel McFadden, economist at University of California, Berkeley, suggests that most people find too many options troubling because of the “risk of misperception and miscalculation, of misunderstanding the available alternatives, of misreading one's own tastes, of yielding to a moment's whim and regretting it afterwards”, combined with “the stress of information acquisition”. Indeed, the expectation of indecision can prompt panic and a failure to choose at all. (3)

In a paper published in The American Journal of Psychiatry, in 1970, Lipowski wrote, “I maintain that it is specifically the overabundance of attractive alternatives, aided and abetted by an affluent and increasingly complex society, that leads to conflict, frustration, unrelieved appetitive tension, more approach tendencies and more conflict—a veritable vicious cycle.” That cycle, in turn, likely had “far-reaching and probably harmful effects on the mental and physical health of affected individuals.” (4)

Having too many options demands too much effort to make a sensible decision: better to avoid the decision, or have somebody else pick for you. The vast majority of shoppers in a Californian grocery store faced with 24 varieties of something simply choose not to buy any. The French have a saying: “Trop de choix tue le choix” (too much choice kills the choice).

Psychologists say that having more choices raises expectations too high, making even a good decision feel bad. The potential for regret about the options not taken is greater in the face of multiple choices – resulting in confusion, indecision, panic, regret, anxiety.

Unpopular choices

Often, making a choice is not easy. There are few unanimous choices - 100% agreement in anything is rare.

Change, by definition, requires us to embrace new (or contrary) opinions. When change is necessary, new ideas must be introduced, and new ideas are almost always met with confrontation on some level.

As a leader, it gets really hard to make the unpopular choices. It’s especially hard when a company owner is called upon to make hard, but necessary, decisions such as announcing layoffs and reducing benefits. It’s hard to decide between success and reputation, friendships, and family. It’s likely that someone will be hurt, or unhappy – but that cannot stop the hard choices.  One has to have the self-confidence and the “intestinal fortitude” to make tough choices.

Leaders must recognize that friendships can't get in the way of making the right choice. Good people recognize this need and respect it. Teams don't work well when their leader makes only popular choices.

It’s even harder to go against the popular trend when one is just a regular employee. I remember that Action Instruments, the company I founded in San Diego, gave employees who’d been at the company for at least a year the choice to buy stock ownership. Most employees were enthusiastically in favor and we were known as an employee-owned company. But one person refused, saying, “Ownership implies responsibility, which I don’t need.”  I respected his motivation and accepted his candid admission. I’m happy to note that this person stayed with the company and kept being promoted for his excellent work.

Free Will

Now, let’s dig in deeper into the psychological aspects of making choices. Where does free will come in when making a choice? Is behavior (choice) pre-determined, or does it include free will? (5)

It’s commonly believed that humans have free will. Conscious reflection on the available choices is the best way to achieve objectives; and learn from mistakes. Calculation, strategy, organization etc. are interpreted as key elements to help make specific choices in particular situations.

Free Will Theological Views

A benevolent and all-knowing god always chooses the path that causes the most good, which means there is no real choice to be made, no free will. But, god lets evil exist, which is a required side effect of free will. See my blog – Creation Allegory. (6)

In Christian theology God, by virtue of his foreknowledge, knows what factors will influence individual choices, and by virtue of his omnipotence he controls those factors. This becomes especially important for the doctrines relating to salvation and predestination.

According to Islamic doctrine, free will is the main factor for man's accountability in his actions throughout life, which will be counted on the Day of Judgment because they are man’s own and not God's.

On this subject, I won’t presume to pontificate, but will merely summarize what major monotheistic religions believe. Follow the provided web links to probe deeper. (7)

Determinism

This is the principle that all events, including human action, are ultimately determined by causes external to the will. Some philosophers have taken determinism to imply that individual human beings have no free will and cannot be held morally responsible for their actions. (8)

Many think that it “feels” like we have free will. If so, then at what point does it assert itself? At what point does free will change the way our thought processes progress? As neurons fire and trigger cascading events, at what point does it free will suddenly stop, or suddenly start? Is there a point in the cycles of our brains' processes where "free will" determines the outcome? (9)

Some philosophers think that circumstances, in line with the strict determinism of physics and biochemistry, predetermine all choices and therefore, free will is an illusion.

Some approaches in psychology see the source of determinism as being outside the individual, a position known as environmental determinism. For example, it’s been shown that children with violent parents will in turn become violent parents through observation and imitation. Others see it from coming inside i.e., in the form of unconscious motivation or genetic determinism – biological determinism. (10) These are forms of determinism.

Modern quantum physics shows that the universe is not deterministic at the atomic scale, which has profound effects on microscopic processes. At the macro level, the classical deterministic physical laws apply. Philosophers and scientists are still debating whether or not determinism applies in the macro cosmos. (11)

Fatalism is the special form of determinism where every event in the future is fated to happen. This does not require that any causal laws or higher powers be involved. Que sera, sera.

The movie, “What the Bleep do we know?” is a 2004 film that combines documentary-style interviews, computer-animated graphics, and a narrative that discusses the connection between quantum physics and consciousness. This was followed by a substantially changed, extended DVD version in 2006, called “Down the Rabbit Hole”. I confess that I’ve viewed these many times. For those with an interest in both science and philosophy, it’s well worth viewing. (12)

Let’s Engage

I’m asking you to engage! Don’t just read passively. Answer the following questions, directly in the blog. Plus insert your comments and ideas.

  1. When simple choices are made, do you like to decide? Or just let things happen?
  2. For key choices in your life (job, partner, home, move, divorce), did you choose?
  3. Do you make your choices? Or do they “just happen”?
  4. Are you happy because you choose to be happy? Do you choose to be unhappy?
  5. Do you think that some of your bad choices led to good things later? Or, vice versa?
  6. Does your free will govern your choices? Or are they pre-determined?
  7. What determines your choices: Chance, Destiny, God, or Fate? Choose one.

..ooOOoo..

References

1.     Making Choices: How Your Brain Decides: http://goo.gl/7LvNr0
2.     TED talk – Paradox of Choice: http://goo.gl/WQ9vtM
3.     The tyranny of choice – You choose: http://goo.gl/RMgwG6
4.     When It’s Bad to Have Good Choices: http://goo.gl/dRwJyd
5.     The Choice Is Yours: The Fate Of Free Will: http://goo.gl/rp9SRW
6.     Pinto Blog – Creation Allegory: http://goo.gl/Dt3Mv2
7.     Free will in theology: http://goo.gl/ehgMcB
8.     The Illusion of Choice – Free Will and Determinism: http://goo.gl/YYDvR0
9.     Freewill and Determinism in Psychology: http://goo.gl/98OR5a
10.  Free Will Vs. Free Choice: http://goo.gl/D3cc79
11.  Youtube Video - Determinism VS Freewill: http://goo.gl/m0ZJGm
12.  Film – What the Bleep do we know? http://goo.gl/7NWZss 


Jim Pinto
Carlsbad, CA.
USA
27 April 2015

9 comments:

  1. When simple choices are made, do you like to decide? Or just let things happen?
    Depends on what it is - a bit of both!
    For key choices in your life (job, partner, home, move, divorce), did you choose?
    I choose but I inform my choice not blindly!
    Do you make your choices? Or do they “just happen”?
    Mostly I choose.
    Are you happy because you choose to be happy? Do you choose to be unhappy?
    You may choose to be happy but sometimes you don't succeed.
    Do you think that some of your bad choices led to good things later? Or, vice versa?
    Yes, depends on what the bad things are. But all our bad choices can be made good or be reversed. Sometimes we need help with this!
    Does your free will govern your choices? Or are they pre-determined?
    Free will always at the start but sometimes we can make a choice which overules our freedom - leading to addiction.
    What determines your choices: Chance, Destiny, God, or Fate? Choose one.
    You left out conscience - informed conscience as to what is good or bad!

    ReplyDelete
  2. 1. When simple choices are made, do you like to decide? Or just let things happen?

    As a control freak, I like to make all order of choices.

    2. For key choices in your life (job, partner, home, move, divorce), did you choose?
    No. “The Universe” chose.

    3. Do you make your choices? Or do they “just happen”?
    I think I do, but that may only be illusion.

    4. Are you happy because you choose to be happy? Do you choose to be unhappy?
    I’ve watched both kinds of people, so I try to choose to be happy.

    5. Do you think that some of your bad choices led to good things later? Or, vice versa?
    Sometimes learning seems to be involved, but I’ve often repeated bad choices.

    6. Does your free will govern your choices? Or are they pre-determined?
    I’d like to think free will exists, but have my doubts.

    7. What determines your choices: Chance, Destiny, God, or Fate? Choose one.
    Life is not as simple as having the ability to choose just one.

    ReplyDelete
  3. When simple choices are made, do you like to decide? Or just let things happen?
    I like to choose, I enjoy the process. Often the actual decision is unimportant, love the cow picture, but all pulling in one direction in business is quite critical.


    For key choices in your life (job, partner, home, move, divorce), did you choose?
    I believe I choose, Oxford, New York, southern Cal, leaving GD were all choices made with thought.


    Do you make your choices? Or do they “just happen”?
    No, they do not just happen.
    Are you happy because you choose to be happy? Do you choose to be unhappy?
    I think I am a happy person, but sometimes the News is depressing...


    Do you think that some of your bad choices led to good things later? Or, vice versa?
    Not sure, most of my decisions are cast in jelly, so I am prepared to change my mind and am not tied to a decision which seems to be going bad.


    Does your free will govern your choices? Or are they pre-determined?
    I think it is free will based on thought.


    What determines your choices: Chance, Destiny, God, or Fate? Choose one.
    I don't like the choices you provide, I am sure it is not Chance and definitely not Destiny, God or Fate.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm just reading Daniel Kahneman's book (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thinking,_Fast_and_Slow) which deals with these questions.


    When simple choices are made, do you like to decide? Or just let things happen?
    As a team leader I want team members to make the decisions.
    For myself I make the decisions quickly, but sometimes I like to wait and see what happens (so, I like to be surprised). And sometimes it is mere intuition.

    For key choices in your life (job, partner, home, move, divorce), did you choose?
    Yes, I did.

    Do you make your choices? Or do they “just happen”?
    I make my choices and I hate other people to decide for me.

    Are you happy because you choose to be happy? Do you choose to be unhappy?
    Happy

    Do you think that some of your bad choices led to good things later? Or, vice versa?
    Everything that happens to you (good or bad) can have a valuable content. Also good experience is worth to analyze. "Success is the biggest enemy for any future success".

    Does your free will govern your choices? Or are they pre-determined?
    Free will

    What determines your choices: Chance, Destiny, God, or Fate? Choose one.
    Chance

    ReplyDelete
  5. 1. When simple choices are made, do you like to decide? Or just let things happen?
    It depends on the moment. Typical example: everyday my colleagues engage a discussion about where to go to have lunch. In this case I just let things happen. But to choose the meal I usually take in account my own factors and make my decisions.
    For this type of decision mostly we are influenced by external factors. Like in the above example, to accept other people choice of restaurant limits my options on the menu.
    2. For key choices in your life (job, partner, home, move, divorce), did you choose?
    I like to think a lot when making key choices. Anything that involves long term impacts in my life takes me at least 24 hours to decide. In other words I need to sleep over the decision. If it is not possible to wait that much then the decision is not to decide.
    3. Do you make your choices? Or do they “just happen”?
    In a general way of speaking, yes I make my own choices. But is not possible to say that theya re not influenced by external factors. Even major choices get influenced by external factors such as my wife opinion, market trends, advertising, social pressure and so on
    4. Are you happy because you choose to be happy? Do you choose to be unhappy?
    For me it sounds sick to choose not to be happy. Everybody seeks happiness therefore to choose to be unhappy is only considered if it is to make someone else happy. As an example if someone does not like a certain type of music he/she may accept to listen to it in order to please someone that he/she likes. But then the choice was made considering a greater good, so we cannot say that this person choice was for the unhappiness.
    5. Do you think that some of your bad choices led to good things later? Or, vice versa?
    In my point of view there are no bad choices. A choice is considered bad a posteriori however it is impossible to know what would happen if I had chosen differently.
    6. Does your free will govern your choices? Or are they pre-determined?
    There should be a midterm between free will and determinism. My free will act every time, however the output of it is influenced, as discussed before. Humans can choose to do things against their instinct, making us distinct from most of the animals, what proves the existence of free will. However the extension of the choices available and/or considered depend on the environment.
    7. What determines your choices: Chance, Destiny, God, or Fate? Choose one.
    Chance. I picked this one because the choices are done based on what is available to be chosen. If we consider that the availability of options depends on a multitude of events, mostly out of control, chance (in a statistic definition) will determine what my choice will be. My fate says that God want me to make decisions that will lead to the best for most of my kind (sorry for my generalization). This eliminates two options of the list. Destiny is a dubious concept for me, placed between Chance and God/Fate.

    ReplyDelete
  6. 1. When simple choices are made, do you like to decide?
    To a great extent and/or with my wife.

    Or just let things happen?
    It's OK but I prefer to choose.

    2. For key choices in your life (job, partner, home, move, divorce), did you choose?
    Yes!

    3. Do you make your choices?
    Yes

    Or do they “just happen”?
    I do look at opportunities that pops up and then choose.

    4. Are you happy because you choose to be happy?
    Most of the time but feel better if others were a part in making that choice.
    (Our choices affects others.)

    Do you choose to be unhappy?
    NO ... when bad things happen, I try to look at the reason it's happening
    and see if I was at fault. Then I can reason on the problem and take
    some action.

    5. Do you think that some of your bad choices led to good things later?
    Yes

    And vice versa?
    At times, looking back, my choice would be different.

    6. Does your free will govern your choices?
    Not completely, I do try to fallow laws, principle's, and advice.

    Or are they pre-determined?
    NO

    7. What determines your choices: Chance, Destiny, God, or Fate?

    I determine my choices, but if I apply my faith in God in making those choices,
    then they will work out better for me and also fallowing the law, principle's,
    and advice that comes from experiences of others that can really help.

    ReplyDelete
  7. 1. When simple choices are made, do you like to decide?
    Or just let things happen?

    I lead the way. A lot of factors can influence the ending but I am the one that makes the steps.

    2. For key choices in your life (job, partner, home, move, divorce),
    did you choose?

    Yes.

    3. Do you make your choices? Or do they “just happen”?

    I initiate the movement and the flow either diverts me a little or a lot.

    4. Are you happy because you choose to be happy? Do you choose to be
    unhappy?

    I am happy because I make the correct choices. The results might not be what I had expected but they are from my choice, or my illusion of them being mine.

    5. Do you think that some of your bad choices led to good things later?
    And vice versa?

    Yes!

    6. Does your free will govern your choices? Or are they pre-determined?

    My freewill is influence by all those miles I have walked.

    7. What determines your choices: Chance, Destiny, God, or Fate?

    My past, the one of my parents and all the people I love.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Where Does the Line End?

    As I’m sitting here writing this essay, two mourning doves fly at it on our front porch. One is a female. The other, a male, pursues her, bashing into our window screens, putting on a show. It’s clear what he wants. She appears reluctant to start nesting again. Does that situation sound like young people everywhere?

    Makes me wonder about this so-called continuum that stops with the “lower animals” and we superior beings. Watching the doves, and all of the other desert animals in spring, I sense that they have no choices in what they do, that their genes drive them. How far up the phylogenetic scale does determinism go? Are humans beyond such external drives? Have we no real choices? We like to think we choose, but do we? Does he really pick a future wife or she a prospective husband? Or do society, expectations, and genes tilt the balance? Could an anthropologist answer these questions? Or a biologist? Is this thought process meant for a cosmologist to ponder?

    We heard on National Public Radio today part of an interview with a professor studying the effects of lead poisoning on human populations. What he said shocked: Much of anti-social behavior, criminality, and failed human relations may be laid at the feet of lead poisoning from ingestion of dust from old homes where lead-based paint was used. Not exclusively, he cautioned, but a factor.

    Where does that line end and when did we cross it, when we escaped the phylogentic scale to become gods? Or did we?

    --Jack Grenard

    ReplyDelete
  9. I am a bit late in getting to read this blog. Here are my answers:

    1. When simple choices are made, do you like to decide? YES
    Or just let things happen? NO
    2. For key choices in your life (job, partner, home, move, divorce),
    did you choose? CHOSE THEM ALL
    3. Do you make your choices? Or do they “just happen”? I MAKE THEM.
    4. Are you happy because you choose to be happy? Do you choose to be
    unhappy? I AM HAPPY BECAUSE THAT IS HOW I CHOSE TO LIVE MY LIVE.
    5. Do you think that some of your bad choices led to good things later? YES, BUT THE KEY IS TO UNDERSTAND WHY YOU MADE THE BAD CHOICE.
    And vice versa?
    6. Does your free will govern your choices? Or are they pre-determined? I BELIEVE IN FREE WILL.
    7. What determines your choices: Chance, Destiny, God, or Fate? NONE OF THESE - I DO.

    I like making choices and do it quickly. But almost all my choices are reasoned out and thought about. Sometimes for a few days for important financial choices.

    Yes, sometimes I don't take the time and make a poor choice, but I try to learn from it so I don't repeat the mistake.

    We all face many choices in any normal situations. But knowing what your goals are, what you are trying to accomplish, what the criteria and limitations are, the choice you have to make usually becomes clear. And in some situations, the choice does not matter so I just choose something. And go on.

    I believe the more choices we have as human beings, the more possibilities open up for your life.

    ReplyDelete