PSYCH 2H03 Chapter Notes - Chapter 13: Confirmation Bias, Utility, Frontal Lobe
12 Mar 2014
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We use values and goals in making decisions. Each decision will have certain costs attached to it o. In deciding we weigh the costs against the benefits and seek a path that will minimize the former and maximize the latter: trade-offs usually involve factors that are highly disparate o. It"s like comparing apples versus oranges the values at stake seem incommensurable. In making choices, we seek to maximize utility that is, to gain as much as we can of those things we value, and to avoid those things that we don"t like. There is no connection between seeking to maximize utilities and being greedy or materialistic (you could value leisure or happiness, or a reduction of world hunger, etc) Many choices and decisions follow utility maximization. However, an enormous number of studies show that we are not utility maximizers and that we are profoundly influenced by factors having little to do with utilities.
