May 19, 2022

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In my last note, I mentioned that I tend to be an "anxious decider,” that making decisions can make me worry about the possibilities I’m missing by choosing one path over another. I heard from a friend the next day who said, "'anxious decider' perfectly describes how I approach decisions."

That comment got me wondering about decision making style. Specifically whether decision making style is a trait or a state. That is, do you tend to make decisions in a way that is more or less inherent to who you are, or do you tend to make decisions in a way that shifts depending on what you’re deciding, where you are, who you’re with, etc.

I did a very quick scan of some of the research and found the answer.

Just kidding - it’s not at all a settled matter, and decision making research in general is as voluminous and multifaceted as the fields that study it directly - economics, psychology, philosophy, neuroscience, finance, medicine, etc.

There’s research about personality differences in decision making, propensity for risk taking in decision making, team decision dynamics, decision making under different circumstances (e.g., anxiety, ambiguity, etc.) and indeed decision making style.

It seems that decision making style is informed by our natural tendencies, but that we also develop decision making patterns over time that ossify into habits.

What’s interesting about the “anxious decider” descriptor is that I’m not sure it actually describes a decision making style. It may describe how I feel about making some important decisions, but not exactly how I go about making those decisions. A simple model that helped me think through this came from a paper on the development of a decision style measure that identified five factors:

1. Rational - The rational style is characterized by a thorough search for, and evaluation of, alternatives in an effort to approach decisions in a logical or objective way
2. Intuitive - The intuitive style is characterized by a reliance on hunches and feelings rather than explicit facts and data when making decisions
3. Dependent - The dependent style is characterized by a search for advice and direction from others to provide social reinforcement or buy in when making decisions
4. Avoidant - The avoidant style is characterized by attempts to avoid decision making to delay or ignore the discomfort often associated with eliminating options or opportunities
5. Spontaneous - The spontaneous style is characterized by reflexive or impromptu decision making that may be driven by impulsivity or desire to respond to things in a natural and easy-going manner

You can probably identify your dominant style just by reading the definitions.

When I’m making decisions I perceive as big or important, I tend to become more dependent. I want to know what other people whom I trust think.

But I also rely a lot on my intuition, and I’ve learned to trust my intuition more in areas where I think my perception is more “believable,” and to go to others when my perception is more limited or not informed by as much training or experience. And in some circumstances to try to apply a more “rational” approach to my thinking, or perhaps even put a decision off until I have more information.

Which is all to say, it can be helpful to think about "how I decide when" - considering what my natural tendency is, how it may change under certain circumstances, and how/when/with whom I tend to make decisions that have best outcomes? And it's especially useful to do this kind of thing when it comes to big important decisions like what to do for work, whom to work with, or where to live.