A632.9.3.RB - Role of Emotion in Decision Making

In this video, Prof. Baba Shiv of Stanford University speaks to the importance of emotion in decision making, particularly as related to confidence. After watching this video, reflect on two situations; one, in which you were extremely confident of the outcome and what your attitude was towards the subject; and second, a situation in which you were less confident or not so confident of the outcome. Based on this module's readings and this video, write a reflection blog detailing the situations above and describing the role emotion played in decision making. Include what emotional reactions you experienced for each scenario.

The video this week was very insightful, yet reflecting on past modules left me with some questions. Professor Baba Shiv stated that it is critical that you invoke emotion into the decision-making process (2011). Comparing his ideas to Sheena Iyengar's video from module 2, what is the relationship between emotion and how quickly one makes a decision? According to Iyengar’s (2011) research, a typical American makes an average of 70 choices in a typical day, 50% of decisions were made in 9 minutes or less, and only 12% of their decisions did they make an hour or more of their time. Another question I contemplated is, can you have a "fake it until you make it" attitude with confidence? Even if the confidence is not sincere, could "faking it" build the self-confidence over time?

I ask these questions because not too long ago, I used to think of myself as a poor decision-maker. Not necessarily that I made bad decisions, but that I was not very good at deciding. I am not sure if it was due to lack of self-confidence, analysis paralysis, choice overload, or laziness but I hated making decisions and would often defer to others. When I did make decisions, I would not feel confident and often questioned my choices and alternate routes. It didn't matter how big or small the decision was, I was not a confident decision-maker. For example, I used to not be a very social person. However, my husband on the other hand is very social. He decided to have several couples over to our house for a super bowl party. I was not sure of myself or the situation. I went to the store to buy soda for the party. It should be a simple task but I get to the soda isle, what do I see? A sea of choices. Pepsi, Coca-Cola, Sprite, Fanta, Mountain Dew, A&W, etc. I decide on Coca-Cola but then there’s more decisions. Coca-Cola regular, diet, zero, cherry, light. Now I am uncertain what our guests might like and start to second-guess my decision to buy Coca-Cola. Then I start to doubt whether to get soda or not. I leave empty handed and frustrated, desperately hoping the guests are satisfied with sweet tea and water. I fretted over the decision all night and apologized for the lack of beverage choices. I had a miserable time because of my indecision and lack of confidence in something so trivial.  

My growth in the military and in this "Leadership journey" have improved my confidence and overall decision-making abilities.  The past five years or so, I have been in very prominent leadership roles.  While I did not always feel confident in my abilities or decisions, I have grown and learned so much.  Furthermore, I had to sometimes adopt the "fake it until you make it" attitude to get the job done.  When I was a Production Superintendent, I started out unsure of myself due to my limited B-2 experience.  However, I quickly learned that the job was not about how much I knew but about leading my people to get the job done.  Within months of starting that position, I became confident in my abilities and decisions.  I enjoyed the job and that I was learning new things every day.  Like Professor Shiv stated, confidence has an effect on how motivated and engaged you are (2011). My confidence grew and was contagious amongst my peers and subordinates.  Idealized influence, or charisma, is an emotional component which "describes leaders who act as strong role models for followers; followers identify with these leaders". (Northouse, p. 167) The crew chiefs wanted to work for me.  We developed a great team that built each other up and were able to effectively accomplish the mission.

It is critical that you invoke emotion into the decision making process because:
1. passion is persuasive
2. confidence Is contagious
3. extraction of utility from the experience you faced

References:
Iyengar, S. (2010). “The Art of Choosing”. TEDGlobal 2010. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/sheena_iyengar_on_the_art_of_choosing?language=en
Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and Practice (7th ed). Los Angeles: SAGE
Shiv, B. (2011). Brain Research at Standard: Decision Making. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRKfl4owWKcLinks to an external site