scholarly journals When Helping Is Risky: The Behavioral and Neurobiological Trade-off of Social and Risk Preferences

2021 ◽  
pp. 095679762110159
Author(s):  
Jörg Gross ◽  
Nadira S. Faber ◽  
Andreas Kappes ◽  
Anne-Marie Nussberger ◽  
Philip J. Cowen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Preferences ◽  
Risk Preferences ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Acceptable Risk ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Personal Risk ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Medical Volunteers ◽  
The Brain

Helping other people can entail risks for the helper. For example, when treating infectious patients, medical volunteers risk their own health. In such situations, decisions to help should depend on the individual’s valuation of others’ well-being (social preferences) and the degree of personal risk the individual finds acceptable (risk preferences). We investigated how these distinct preferences are psychologically and neurobiologically integrated when helping is risky. We used incentivized decision-making tasks (Study 1; N = 292 adults) and manipulated dopamine and norepinephrine levels in the brain by administering methylphenidate, atomoxetine, or a placebo (Study 2; N = 154 adults). We found that social and risk preferences are independent drivers of risky helping. Methylphenidate increased risky helping by selectively altering risk preferences rather than social preferences. Atomoxetine influenced neither risk preferences nor social preferences and did not affect risky helping. This suggests that methylphenidate-altered dopamine concentrations affect helping decisions that entail a risk to the helper.

scholarly journals When Helping is Risky: Behavioral and Neurobiological Mechanisms of Prosocial Decisions Entailing Risk

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jorg Gross ◽  
Nadira Sophie Faber ◽  
Andreas Kappes ◽  
Anne-Marie Nussberger ◽  
Philip Cowen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Preferences ◽  
Driving Forces ◽  
Risk Preferences ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Risk Tolerance ◽  
Helping Others ◽  
Organ Donations ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Increases In Risk

Helping others can entail risks. Doctors that treat infectious patients may risk their own health, intervening in a fight can lead to injury, and organ donations can lead to medical complications. When helping others comes with a risk to oneself, decisions depend on the individual’s valuation of others’ well-being (social preferences) and the degree of personal risk the individual finds acceptable (risk preferences). Here we identify how these distinct preferences are behaviorally (Study 1, N=292) and neurobiologically (Study 2, N=154) integrated when helping is risky. We independently assessed social and risk preferences using incentivized behavioral tasks, and manipulated dopamine and norepinephrine levels in the brain by providing methylphenidate, atomoxetine, or placebo. Results reveal that social and risk preferences are independent driving forces of risky helping, and that methylphenidate-altered dopamine concentrations lead to more helping under risk because of increases in risk-tolerance rather than increased social preferences. Implications for decision-theory and drug use are discussed.

Libertarian Paternalism

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julian Le Grand ◽  
Bill New
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Libertarian Paternalism ◽  
Choice Architecture ◽  
Individual Decision Making ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Government Interventions ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Libertarian Paternalist

This chapter examines the so-called nudge ideas based on libertarian paternalism and asymmetric paternalism, both of which seek to provide a practical approach to the trade-off between well-being and autonomy. Nudge policies are government interventions that seek to change the context in which people make choices—the “choice architecture”—so as to nudge them to make decisions in the direction that the government wants. “Libertarian” paternalism is paternalism because the policies involve government intervention in individual decision making with the intention of promoting the individual's own good, but libertarian because the individual maintains a range of choices similar to those that he/she had without the intervention. After considering the relevant definitions, the chapter considers the case for and against libertarian paternalism and concludes by highlighting the principal defense of libertarian paternalist policies: their effectiveness in terms of their impact on well-being and autonomy when compared to alternative paternalistic policies.

scholarly journals HESR innovation in analysis that supports decision making and action

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
B Barr
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Health Equity ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Status Report ◽  
Policy Performance ◽  
European Health ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Health And Well Being ◽  
Inform Decision Making

Abstract The European Health Equity Status Report makes innovative use of microdata, at the level of the individual, to decompose the relative contributions of five essential underlying conditions to inequities in health and well-being. These essential conditions comprise: (1) Health services (2) Income security and social protection (3) Living conditions (4) Social and human capital (5) Employment and working conditions. Combining microdata across over twenty sources, the work of HESRi has also produced disaggregated indicators in health, well-being, and each of the five essential conditions. In conjunction with indicators of policy performance and investment, the HESRi Health Equity Dataset of over 100 indicators is the first of its kind, as a resource for monitoring and analysing inequities across the essential conditions and policies to inform decision making and action to reduce gaps in health and well-being.

scholarly journals Contribution of Ecosystem Services to Achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals

Proceedings ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Veidemane
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Water Ecosystems

The sustainable development goals (SDGs) for 2030 are established to address global challenges including environment and human well-being. The SDGs are interconnected and achievement of them requires consideration of the planet’s ecosystems and resources - land, water and air. Ecosystem services (ES) approach has a high potential for better planning, policy and decision making. Understanding how different ecosystems (e.g., forests, rivers, wetlands, grasslands) contribute to the social and economic benefits is critical to ensure the long-term biodiversity protection and sustainable use of ecosystems. A conceptual framework linking biodiversity and ecosystem condition (its structure and functions), and ES to human well-being has been well-established in EU by so called MAES process (Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystem Services) lead by the European Commission. The framework is applied in recent research studies and projects, as well as national MAES processes. Various methods are applied for MAES in terms to determine biophysical, economic and social values and to deliver integrated ecosystem assessment. Assessment of ES and trade off analysis shall provide a new perspective for land use planning and decision making at different administrative and spatial levels and in different sectoral policies. EU and national policies for instance on agriculture, fishery, forestry, climate should account the benefits provided by relevant ecosystems and to ensure that the values are not diminished but rather enhanced during the implementation of the policies. Terrestrial and water ecosystems are interconnected as land-based human activities creates pressure that impacts the conditions in water ecosystems and thus delivery of ES by rivers and lakes. For example, intensive agricultural land use produces food for people and income; however, the activity also most frequently causes problems with water quality and quantity in the catchment area and a loss of biodiversity. A risk of such trade-off shall be handled in policy development. Ecosystems also contributes to the resilience of communities by reducing the risk of natural hazards and mitigate adverse impacts. Regulating services such as flood control are substituting investments in flood protection ensured by forests, wetlands and grasslands instead of human built infrastructure. Appropriate land cover and land use shall serve as a basic flood protection measure. Natural processes are increasingly recognised to create new-type solutions that use and deploy the properties of natural ecosystems and their services in an “engineered” way. A wide range of measures called also as nature-based solutions provide another opportunity to work with nature towards global sustainability.

scholarly journals Mental Resilience and Coping With Stress: A Comprehensive, Multi-level Model of Cognitive Processing, Decision Making, and Behavior

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iryna S. Palamarchuk ◽  
Tracy Vaillancourt
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Psychological Stress ◽  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Neural Activity ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Coping With Stress ◽  
Acute And Chronic Stress ◽  
Level Model ◽  
The Individual ◽  
And Behavior

Aversive events can evoke strong emotions that trigger cerebral neuroactivity to facilitate behavioral and cognitive shifts to secure physiological stability. However, upon intense and/or chronic exposure to such events, the neural coping processes can be maladaptive and disrupt mental well-being. This maladaptation denotes a pivotal point when psychological stress occurs, which can trigger subconscious, “automatic” neuroreactivity as a defence mechanism to protect the individual from potential danger including overwhelming unpleasant feelings and disturbing or threatening thoughts.The outcomes of maladaptive neural activity are cognitive dysfunctions such as altered memory, decision making, and behavior that impose a risk for mental disorders. Although the neurocognitive phenomena associated with psychological stress are well documented, the complex neural activity and pathways related to stressor detection and stress coping have not been outlined in detail. Accordingly, we define acute and chronic stress-induced pathways, phases, and stages in relation to novel/unpredicted, uncontrollable, and ambiguous stressors. We offer a comprehensive model of the stress-induced alterations associated with multifaceted pathophysiology related to cognitive appraisal and executive functioning in stress.

scholarly journals Associative Learning and Motivation Differentially Requires Neuroligin-1 at Excitatory Synapses

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiaqi Luo ◽  
Jessica M Tan ◽  
Jess Nithianantharajah
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Brain Connectivity ◽  
Excitatory Synapses ◽  
Response Effort ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Signaling Complex ◽  
Neural Computations ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
The Brain

ABSTRACTIn a changing environment, a challenge for the brain is to flexibly guide adaptive behavior towards survival. Understanding how these decision-making processes and underlying neural computations are orchestrated by the structural components of the brain, from circuits to cells, and ultimately the signaling complex of proteins at synapses, is central to elucidating the mechanisms that shape normal and abnormal brain connectivity, plasticity and behavior. At excitatory synapses, neuroligin-1 (Nlgn1) a postsynaptic cell-adhesion molecule required for the formation of trans-synaptic complexes with presynaptic partners is critical for regulating synapse specification, function and plasticity. Extensive evidence shows Nlgn1 is essential for synaptic transmission and long-term plasticity, but how these signaling processes ultimately regulate components of cognitive behavior is much less understood. Here, employing a comprehensive battery of touchscreen-based cognitive assays, we measured two key decision problems: i) the ability to learn and exploit the associative structure of the environment and ii) the trade-off between potential rewards and costs, or positive and negative utilities associated with available actions. We found that mice lacking Nlgn1 have an intact capacity to acquire complex associative structures and adjust learned associations. However, loss of Nlgn1 alters motivation leading to a reduced willingness to overcome response effort for reward and an increased willingness to exert effort to escape an aversive situation. We suggest Nlgn1 may be important for balancing the weighting on positive and negative utilities in reward-cost trade-off. Our findings identify Nlgn1 is essential for regulating distinct cognitive processes underlying decision-making, providing evidence of a new model for dissociating the computations underlying learning and motivational processing.

scholarly journals Penerapan Metode Promethee Dalam Sistem Pendukung Keputusan Penetapan Penerima Kartu Indonesia Sehat (KIS)

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 739
Author(s):  
Reva Octaviani Siregar ◽  
Deci Irmayani ◽  
Masrizal Masrizal
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Decision Support ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Preference Ranking ◽  
Problem Analysis ◽  
Healthy Environment ◽  
Promethee Method ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Selection Of

Health is a state of well-being of body, soul and society that enables everyone to live productively socially and economically. Therefore, health is the most important element in human life. Health is closely related to economic conditions. factors that affect human health such as healthy food and drinks, a healthy environment and healthy living habits will be fulfilled. Conversely, if a bad economy will make it difficult for individual people to meet some of these factors, if these conditions are ignored, the individual community will find it difficult to improve their health. The problem that occurred at Galang Health Center was the unsatisfactory selection of KIS (Kartu Indonesia Sehat) participants. the selection of KIS (Kartu Indonesia Sehat) participants requires a decision support system (DSS) to speed up and make it easier to make decisions. Decision support systems are used to assist decision making in an organization to facilitate decision making. Where no one knows exactly how decisions should be made. The Promethee method (Preference Ranking Organizational Method for Enrichment Evaluation) is a method used to determine priority (order) in multi-criteria analysis. With the Promethee method, the problem of choosing KIS (Kartu Indonesia Sehat) participants is feasible to use in this study, the stages of research carried out in this study are starting from data collection, problem analysis, method analysis, design and testing of applications to be built, the purpose of this research is to solve the problems of the participants. KIS (Kartu Indonesia Sehat), which have been unsatisfied in terms of the decision of KIS (Kartu Indonesia Sehat) recipients. The results showed that of the three KIS (Kartu Indonesia Sehat) participants who were tested, there were two participants who deserved KIS (Kartu Indonesia Sehat) based on the results of the assessment of the five criteria used so that the calculation results using the Promethee method showed that the net flow from each of the alternatef is -1 for alternative 1 and 0.2 for alternative 2 and 0.8 for the third alternative.

Vicissitudes of Emotions and Political Action During the Greek Crisis

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bettina Davou
Keyword(s):  
Defense Mechanisms ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Traumatic Event ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Norms And Values ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Brain

Action readiness is considered a central property of emotions in most psychological theories. Emotions are the engine of behavior. They are the motivating, directing, prioritizing function of the brain, and impel to an immediate reaction to challenges and opportunities faced by the organism. Nevertheless, under sociopolitical malaise, emotions do not always lead to action. People leave in societies characterized by particular emotional cultures, climates, and atmospheres that set the background to what emotions are felt under which circumstances. The impact of an emotion depends on how relevant, that is, emotionally significant is the event for the individual; on the implications of the event for the person’s well-being and immediate or long-term goals; on the individual’s capacity to cope with or adjust to the consequences of the event; and on the significance of the event with respect to individual and collective self-concept and to social norms and values. Although emotions trigger action, events with high emotional intensity may mobilize defense mechanisms that distort facts, so that the event may appear distant or not concerning the individual personally. In such cases action is hindered because the meaning of the emotive event, although fully intellectually understood, does not have personal emotional reality. If the defense mechanisms prove inefficient or collapse, the event may be experienced as traumatic, that is, as a shocking occurrence that brings about a rupture in the continuity of existence, numbing of senses and mental faculties, and inability to think about what happened for periods that may last from days to years, although individuals and collectives may appear quite normal in carrying out everyday routines. Interpretative “emotion work” in formal or informal contexts may change emotions from immobilizing to mobilizing, or from destructive to constructive, as the traumatic event is being “worked through” and a cohesive narrative about it develops. But even then, action and in our case, political action, depends on the individual’s available repertoire—political efficacy and resilience—built up from past recoveries and a sense of support from social networks, and hope in assessing the costs and benefits from the harms brought by acting and the harms brought by non-acting.

scholarly journals How should the ‘privilege’ in therapeutic privilege be conceived when considering the decision-making process for patients with borderline capacity?

2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sumytra Menon ◽  
Vikki Entwistle ◽  
Alastair Vincent Campbell ◽  
Johannes J M van Delden
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Informed Consent ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Mental Capacity ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
The Novel ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Therapeutic Privilege ◽  
Court Of Appeal

Therapeutic privilege (TP) is a defence that may be available to doctors who fail to disclose to the patient relevant information when seeking informed consent for treatment if they have a reasonable belief that providing that information would likely cause the patient concerned serious physical or mental harm. In a landmark judgement, the Singapore Court of Appeal introduced a novel interpretation of TP, identifying circumstances in which it might be used with patients who did not strictly lack capacity but might be inclined to refuse recommended treatments. In this paper, we explore the conceptual and practical challenges of this novel interpretation of TP. We propose that more emphasis should be placed on forms of shared and supported decision-making that foster the autonomy of patients with compromised mental capacity while being mindful of the need to safeguard their well-being. The kind of privilege that doctors might need to invoke is one of time and supportive expertise to ensure a flexible, responsive approach calibrated to the individual patients’ needs. The provision of such service would extinguish the need for the novel TP proposed by the Singapore Court of Appeal.

scholarly journals Emulating Agricultural Disease Management: Comparing Risk Preferences Between Industry Professionals and Online Participants Using Experimental Gaming Simulations and Paired Lottery Choice Surveys

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric M. Clark ◽  
Scott C. Merrill ◽  
Luke Trinity ◽  
Gabriela Bucini ◽  
Nicholas Cheney ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Risk Preferences ◽  
Disease Status ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Research Quality ◽  
Quality Data ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Convenience Sample ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Industry Professionals

Mitigating the spread of disease is crucial for the well-being of agricultural production systems. Implementing biosecurity disease prevention measures can be expensive, so producers must balance the costs of biosecurity investments with the expected benefits of reducing the risk of infections. To investigate the risk associated with this decision making process, we developed an online experimental game that simulates biosecurity investment allocation of a pork production facility during an outbreak. Participants are presented with several scenarios that vary the visibility of the disease status and biosecurity protection implemented at neighboring facilities. Certain rounds allowed participants to spend resources to reduce uncertainty and reveal neighboring biosecurity and/or disease status. We then test how this uncertainty affects the decisions to spend simulation dollars to increase biosecurity and reduce risk. We recruited 50 attendees from the 2018 World Pork Expo to participate in our simulation. We compared their performance to an opportunity sample of 50 online participants from the survey crowdsourcing tool, Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk). With respect to biosecurity investment, we did not find a significant difference between the risk behaviors of industry professionals and those of MTurk participants for each set of experimental scenarios. Notably, we found that our sample of industry professionals opted to pay to reveal disease and biosecurity information more often than MTurk participants. However, the biosecurity investment decisions were not significantly different during rounds in which additional information could be purchased. To further validate these findings, we compared the risk associated with each group's responses using a well-established risk assessment survey implementing paired lottery choices. Interestingly, we did not find a correlation in risk quantified with simulated biosecurity investment in comparison to the paired lottery choice survey. This may be evidence that general economic risk preferences may not always translate into simulated behavioral risk, perhaps due to the contextual immersion provided by experimental gaming simulations. Online recruitment tools can provide cost effective research quality data that can be rapidly assembled in comparison to industry professionals, who may be more challenging to sample at scale. Using a convenience sample of industry professionals for validation can also provide additional insights into the decision making process. These findings lend support to using online experimental simulations for interpreting risk associated with a complex decision mechanism.

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