Decision making in a world of information overload | Gabriella Pravettoni | TEDxPolitecnicodiMilanoU
very welcome to everyone I would like to think for one second Just Close Your Eyes uh 10 seconds please don't sleep because I believe I have to speak for more or less 15 minutes so just to think for 10 seconds how many decisions did you take yesterday how many things and decisions you have to take this afternoon before rest before dreaming tonight how many things you have to choose so what is a decision making is a complex process really a complex process that we have to decide in every second thousands of think and in this overload information world but we have to think uh very easy things like uh I have to take a flight I don't know what the weather with be so may I have to take an umbrella I have to take a jacket I have to have take an Overcoat very easy things or difficult things things that uh could be more uh difficult but in the sense we have to decide may I have really to marry someone for example it's a decision that is a simple decision yes or no is a close answer yes or no I remember when I was on the lake of Kom with my boyfriend and we were talking about how difficult was life but how wonderful was uh being together and we had to decide something together for the future and I was looking around and I saw George clun he was there he was there like me like my boyfriend and many others people I look at him he was very charman he was looking at this uh Lake on a a boot on the lake and my boyfriend didn't see him and told me what do you think if we marry yes or no what's the point of the decision yes we decide we give an answer is very simple but we have even to decide for something else like uh George Cluny was really much better he looks like very a very beautiful man my boyfriend was very beautiful but not enough uh George clun was very rich and we are normal person and not so rich and many other things but so what is the decision sometimes is the second best choice I decided to marry my boyfriend he is my husband and when I when I do this stupid sketch he says I never will tell you thousands of people I can think before you you're not probably this second best choice but it's okay he's right he's right the Paradox of choice is the fact that we have too many choices too many opportunities too many informations too many options and these make things very difficult less is more it's right we are Intoxicated by information info obesity we says our brain are obese we are full of information are we comfortable with these and confident with these informations from the person from the point of view of the person we are we are in we live in Milano we are full of people and situations and cultures and values and believes everything but when you do a choice we need to select something and how we select something in this info obesity let me give just an example if I had an Heche headache I really suffer of headache very often and I did the stupid things I search on Google headache I have often had ache and in more or less 10 minutes searching and Google on Google I decided I had probably a a brain tumor because I often work with people with tumors could be something like one month life yes because it's really it happens really very often so I had to decide not to check not to check on Google if I had an headache if I have a flu because the answer what is it's not simple it's not yes or no it's not that we have fre four options and we have to choose between the three four options we have thousands of options let me say if I ask you do you like the white chocolate on the black chocolate it's easy no two or three options if we have 24 different chocolates black white and brown and with the strawberries and everything inside what we do we eat everything we guess this is the reason why I'm always overweight but I mean the point really the point is that we need to simplify the word to simplify the options we have in front of us it's easy yes could be it depends on the personality we have it depends on the fact that you are a maximizer or you are a satisfier if you are a satisfier is simple you eat all the chocolates you don't choose if you have too many options what you do is that your answer is I choose random or I decide not to eat so nothing at all or I eat everything but if I have few options what can I do it's simple I can reason I can evaluate I had to Man Chocolate yesterday I'm overweight I feel good and I decide what to do so what we need to do is really to have no more than five six options that is of course what we know is possible to do in a supermarket because if we see 24 different marmalades and types of yogurt and health food and overall health food what you we do yes we don't decide to take one wonderful natural yogurt and it pass to the junk food right on the corner that's a trap it's really difficult to leave and to choose when we have to behave in a multitasking way because yes we answer the phone we have to walk we have to think what we have to do tonight at what time I have to catch the flight and many many things we do all together so what's the point we have a problem if we have too many choices since we don't want to choose random or don't choose at all what we do is that we try to Cluster to use things like Innovative technology I use sky scanner I use uh many things like booking and I have all the filters to simplify what I have to do to take a decision to simplify this word that is overloaded but from the personal point of view the first point the first important point is that I hate my brain hates uncertainty we don't like uncertainty and this is the reason why we hear but we don't listen we look but not but we don't see very well because we are all always in a hurry we are always moving in a urgency of time trying to choose all the best the second best choice or as a satisfier the difference between satisfiers and maximizer is clear just think to your girlfriend or your boyfriend or a husband anyway a person with whom you would like to organize a weekend and it's very simple to understand that if you with a satisfier or with a maximizer if I ask you what do you think to do we go to Berlin or we go to Barcelona a satisfier in two seconds says okay Barcelona because I think there will be a good weather Point done 10 seconds a maximizer starts yes Barcelona could be interesting but uh I never seen Berlin and overall the hotel are cheaper and overall there are more flights and I have to be back on Monday morning I don't want late flights from Barcelona did you remember when you went there 4 hours late and blah blah and they start evaluating and analyzing everything so in my opinion opion if you stay with a maximizer find and satisfier in two seconds they simplify your life yes of course sometimes we are more superficial but we have some defense for example if you see a person who smokes or you smoke what do you do yes I have I have this uh bad idea of small walking but no more than 10 and overall I walk and I eat health food and I do everything that is suggested as prevention and you look at the other and say ah he's smoking he's still smoking he will have a l tumor a lung cancer or a an infection we defend ourselves our mind since we don't accept the uncertainty to feel today in a good way and tomorrow in a bad way we defend ourself seeing all the bad things around us but with the idea that we do all the best we can to save ourself even if we we have an horrible habit how can we do this we simplify we use uh to be satisfier in many situation but overall we use sh Cuts Like Uris sixs there was an interesting very interesting research 400 children 11 years old and 20 pediatrician in New York how they decided if these children need tonsilectomy or not was very easy 45% yes 55% no they took the 55 to whom the pediatrician told no you don't need Aton sectomy and the went to other 20 pediatrician what do you expect 46% say yes and 54 said no and that's interesting that means that we need to simplify but even we need to reorganize in a way that is acceptable due to what for example due to our experience there was in 2014 the massive problem of Ebola in Africa if you went to a doctor to an urgency department and you said in Milano and you said I have a high fever since three days Eola huh because there are things there are so relevant some information there are so relevant that we forget immediately after the urgency why that because we just try to confirm what we have in our mind and that's a mess that's a mess and all like in the case of the smoking Behavior we try to confirm exactly what we think it's interesting for us like I have an old car $1,000 to sell and if I tell someone buy my car is 1,500 why I have an effective thing with my car my old car we did many experiences together but the some of you has to sell this the same car and and come and say $1,000 I say you're crazy are you crazy and you say yes but I have an effective with my car take your car don't sell so the point is that we really do an arithmetic compassion even on the side not only on the logic on the side of our logic but on the side of motivation of values beliefs emotions related to our decision and for the emotion even the number of person we are taking care is something important there was this com arithmetic of compassion if we look at just one person and we think think to take care of that person we have strong emotion we want to save that person that particular person I'm looking but if we see many it's like the Paradox of choice too many choices so we defend we become logic we need an organization the politics and everything but not me so it's possible to take good decision yes I think I really think but what we need to underline is don't think to the first information we have the anchoring bias the anchoring a juristic don't think in an effective way don't think just uh okay I heard that it comes from my experience I read I defend myself but just try to find the most relevant information you have thank you [Applause]