Increasing Choices or Decreasing Hope? Explaining the Rising Prevalence of Depression From a Decision-Making Perspective

2021 ◽  
pp. 003329412098812
Author(s):  
Sabnam Basu ◽  
Shikha Dixit

In today’s fast-moving society, we get a multitude of options available. However, choices once considered beneficial, are now being largely debated. In the face of rising prevalence of depression and being identified as the ‘disease of modernity’, this burden of increasing choices on the modern society needs to be re-evaluated. In this paper, we aim to elucidate the rising rate of depression in today’s society with regard to the increasing number of choices, the decision-making process, and the consequent attribution of the decision-making situations. We also attempt to look at the role of culture, acknowledging its importance in depression and perception of choices. Lastly, a theoretical perspective is being outlined about how the increasing amount of choices being provided in today’s society can give rise to a pessimistic attribution style among decision-makers. Decision-makers therein might be more likely to face post-decisional regret and self-blame, ultimately developing risk for depression. The way in which choices are perceived in a particular culture could either facilitate or act as a buffer to depression. Thus, the essential role that culture might play in moderating this relationship is also discussed.

Author(s):  
Ekaterina Jussupow ◽  
Kai Spohrer ◽  
Armin Heinzl ◽  
Joshua Gawlitza

Systems based on artificial intelligence (AI) increasingly support physicians in diagnostic decisions, but they are not without errors and biases. Failure to detect those may result in wrong diagnoses and medical errors. Compared with rule-based systems, however, these systems are less transparent and their errors less predictable. Thus, it is difficult, yet critical, for physicians to carefully evaluate AI advice. This study uncovers the cognitive challenges that medical decision makers face when they receive potentially incorrect advice from AI-based diagnosis systems and must decide whether to follow or reject it. In experiments with 68 novice and 12 experienced physicians, novice physicians with and without clinical experience as well as experienced radiologists made more inaccurate diagnosis decisions when provided with incorrect AI advice than without advice at all. We elicit five decision-making patterns and show that wrong diagnostic decisions often result from shortcomings in utilizing metacognitions related to decision makers’ own reasoning (self-monitoring) and metacognitions related to the AI-based system (system monitoring). As a result, physicians fall for decisions based on beliefs rather than actual data or engage in unsuitably superficial evaluation of the AI advice. Our study has implications for the training of physicians and spotlights the crucial role of human actors in compensating for AI errors.


2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 175-205 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gitanjali Nain Gill

AbstractThis article argues that the involvement of technical experts in decision making promotes better environmental results while simultaneously recognizing the uncertainty in science. India’s record as a progressive jurisdiction in environmental matters through its proactive judiciary is internationally recognized. The neoteric National Green Tribunal of India (NGT) – officially described as a ‘specialised body equipped with necessary expertise to handle environmental disputes involving multi-disciplinary issues’ – is a forum which offers greater plurality for environmental justice. The NGT, in exercising wide powers, is staffed by judicial and technical expert members who decide cases in an open forum. The experts are ‘central’, rather than ‘marginal’, to the NGT’s decision-making process.This article draws on theoretical insights developed by Lorna Schrefler and Peter Haas to analyze the role of scientific experts as decision makers within the NGT. Unprecedented interview access provides data that grants an insight into the internal decision-making processes of the five benches of the NGT. Reported cases, supported by additional comments of bench members, illustrate the wider policy impact of scientific knowledge and its contribution to the NGT’s decision-making process.


Author(s):  
Quentin Commine ◽  
Jérémie Aboiron

The role of the manager, defined by innumerable scientific publications, is only rarely seen through the prism of game theory and its notions of equilibrium allowing decision-makers to optimize situations. The role of the middle-manager, mindful of the human factor and respectful toward his mission shall lead to a virtuous balance, can be defined in game theory as a correlated equilibrium in the sense of the game theorist Robert Aumann. Indeed, this kind of equilibrium goes further than the Nash equilibrium by introducing the notion of a common game and an intermediary embedded in the decision-making process and getting the strategy from his superiors to translate it to his subordinated staff. We use two military historical illustrations to illustrate this concept: the case of the Auftragstaktik refers to Sherman's "march to the sea" while the study of Lee's defeat at Gettysburg refers to the necessity of having capable subordinated staff to maximize an outcome. Throughout this study, we show and formalize the essential role of the middle-manager in the elaboration of effective decisions and processes.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suci Handayani Handayani ◽  
Hade Afriansyah

Decision making is one element of economic value, especially in the era of globalization, and if it is not acceptable in the decision making process, we will be left behind. According to Robins, (2003: 173), Salusu, (2000: 47), and Razik and Swanson, (1995: 476) say that decision making can be interpreted as a process of choosing a number of alternatives, how to act in accordance with concepts, or rules in solving problems to achieve individual or group goals that have been formulated using a number of specific techniques, approaches and methods and achieve optimal levels of acceptance.Decision making in organizations whether a decision is made for a person or group, the nature of the decision is often determined by rules, policies, prescribed, instructions that have been derived or practices that apply. To understand decision making within the organization it is useful to view decision making as part of the overall administrative process. In general, individuals tend to use simple strategies, even if in any complex matter, to get the desired solution, because the solution is limited by imperfect information, time and costs, limited thinking and psychological stress experienced by decision makers.


Author(s):  
Dunja Apostolov-Dimitrijevic

This paper explains political democratization in Post-Milosevic Serbia, utilizing two different accounts of the democratization process: one rooted in the rational choice framework and the other in structuralism. While rational choice explains the decisive role of political leadership in overcoming path dependence, the structuralist explanations show the transnational linkages that encourage democratization in the face of domestic setbacks. This particular debate between the two types of explanations represents the larger debate concerning the role of internal factors and external linkages in propelling democratization in transitional societies. The paper concludes by integrating the two sets of explanations offered by each theoretical perspective, in order to develop a coherent understanding of Serbia's democratization.   Full text available at: https://doi.org/10.22215/rera.v9i1.240


2021 ◽  
pp. 238008442110144
Author(s):  
N.R. Paul ◽  
S.R. Baker ◽  
B.J. Gibson

Introduction: Patients’ decisions to undergo major surgery such as orthognathic treatment are not just about how the decision is made but what influences the decision. Objectives: The primary objective of the study was to identify the key processes involved in patients’ experience of decision making for orthognathic treatment. Methods: This study reports some of the findings of a larger grounded theory study. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews of patients who were seen for orthognathic treatment at a teaching hospital in the United Kingdom. Twenty-two participants were recruited (age range 18–66 y), of whom 12 (male = 2, female = 10) were 6 to 8 wk postsurgery, 6 (male = 2, female = 4) were in the decision-making stage, and 4 (male = 0, female = 4) were 1 to 2 y postsurgery. Additional data were also collected from online blogs and forums on jaw surgery. The data analysis stages of grounded theory methodology were undertaken, including open and selective coding. Results: The study identified the central role of dental care professionals (DCPs) in several underlying processes associated with decision making, including legitimating, mediating, scheduling, projecting, and supporting patients’ decisions. Six categories were related to key aspects of decision making. These were awareness about their underlying dentofacial problems and treatment options available, the information available about the treatment, the temporality of when surgery would be undertaken, the motivations and expectation of patients, social support, and fear of the surgery, hospitalization, and potentially disliking their new face. Conclusion: The decision-making process for orthognathic treatment is complex, multifactorial, and heavily influenced by the role of DCPs in patient care. Understanding the magnitude of this role will enable DCPs to more clearly participate in improving patients’ decision-making process. The findings of this study can inform future quantitative studies. Knowledge Transfer Statement: The results of this study can be used both for informing clinical practice around enabling decision making for orthognathic treatment and also for designing future research. The findings can better inform clinicians about the importance of their role in the patients’ decision-making process for orthognathic treatment and the means to improve the patient experience. It is suggested that further research could be conducted to measure some of the key constructs identified within our grounded theory and assess how these change during the treatment process.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abbasali Ebrahimian ◽  
Seyed-Hossein Hashemi-Amrei ◽  
Mohammadreza Monesan

Introduction. Appropriate decision-making is essential in emergency situations; however, little information is available on how emergency decision-makers decide on the emergency status of the patients shifted to the emergency department of the hospital. This study aimed at explaining the factors that influence the emergency specialists’ decision-making in case of emergency conditions in patients. Methods. This study was carried out with a qualitative content analysis approach. The participants were selected based on purposive sampling by the emergency specialists. The data were collected through semistructured interviews and were analyzed using the method proposed by Graneheim and Lundman. Results. The core theme of the study was “efforts to perceive the acute health threats of the patient.” This theme was derived from the main classes, including “the identification of the acute threats based on the patient’s condition” and “the identification of the acute threats based on peripheral conditions.” Conclusions. The conditions governing the decision-making process about patients in the emergency department differ from the conditions in other health-care departments at hospitals. Emergency specialists may have several approaches to decide about the patients’ emergency conditions. Therefore, notably, the emergency specialists’ working conditions and the others’ expectations from these specialists should be considered.


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