education

1. InDecision
Grace Gilbert
NARRATOR
Everyday, everywhere, everyone is
making a decision whether they are
big or small. From what to eat? To
where to go? To what to do? But
what I want to know is why do some
people find it harder to make
decisions and what are the factors
that contribute to indecisiveness
and what really goes on in the
brain?
NARRATOR
Decision making is defined as a
process in which someone has to
choose one option or an action
among several other alternative
options… so why is it that there
can be a disruption to a natural
occurrence? Let’s talk about
indecisions
[QUIET BACKGORUND MUSIC EG.
ACOUSTIC GUITAR]
NARRATOR CON’D
Indecision is defined as the
inability to make a decision
quickly… but what exactly does
this mean? A study took place at
the University of Melbourne inn
which scientists watched as people
had to chose between snacks. They
watched two sections of the brain
the prefrontal cortex which is in
charge of executive functions for
example stopping us responding
inappropriately to stimuli and
then the praecuneus which helps us
to integrate new information into
our understanding of the world.
The scientists saw these areas of
the brain light up when the
participants had to chose between
a snack… this basically means that
as they kept choosing between the
snacks they formed new opinions on
1

2. them. Dr Bode concluded that just
by making these hard decisions you
might change your preference
despite having learned anything
new about the options. And in
result could affect a later
decision at a later date
INTERVIEWER
What’s the one word you would use
to describe decision making?
NARRATOR
I want to explore the factors that
make people indecisive and talk to
a few people about the decisions
they have had to make. But first
what are the factors that
contribute to indecision and is it
linked to mental health?
NARRATOR CON’D
Studies have suggested that there
are multiple factors that
contribute to indecisions, for
example perfectionism and this is
where the person obsesses over the
choice because the thought of it
being wrong is too painful and too
scary. This links onto another
factor which is insecurity, where
you know what you want but you
second guess yourself as a result
of not being confident in your
intelligence or intuition. Fear of
responsibility… you avoid or
procrastinate against making a
decision because you don’t want to
be held accountable for things if
they go wrong. They’re just a few
of the factors that can contribute
to being indecisive… but is it
linked to mental health?
NARRATOR CON’D
According to Dr Dombeck yes… yes
it is. He mentions that even
though there is no indecisive
disorder listed in the DSM it can
be linked to other mental health
2

3. issues such as anxiety disorder
and other depressive orders. He
also suggests it could link to
perfectionism and obsessional
personality types which ties into
our previous point about how being
a perfectionist can contribute to
indecisiveness. Daniel Kahneman is
a world leading psychologist who
has looked into decision making
and suggests that intuition and
logic are both to play apart in
the process. Logic decision making
is based off of facts and data and
this is used to come up with a
sensible decision. Intuition on
the other hand is a way of using
abstract information you have
received from different aspects of
your life to create a sensible
reasoning to come up with a
decision
INTERVIEWER
When you make a decision are you
more likely to make it based on
intuition or logic? And why?
[ANSWER]
INTERVIEWER
What are some of the decisions
you’ve had to make? They can be
simple decisions or difficult
decisions
[ANSWERS- PUT ALL THE ANSWERS
TOGETHER, STARTING WITH A CLIP
OF SOMEONE SYAING THE FIRST ONE
THEN FADE INTO A DIFFERENT SHOT
SO I COULD USE A FILLER SHOT
IMAGE]
NARRATOR
One of the major biases in risky
decision making is optimism.
Optimism is a source of high risk
thinking
[HAVE THIS APPEAR AT THE END
WITH THE NARRATOR SPEAKING,
3

4. THEN ON A BLACK BACKGORUND HAVE
THE QUOTE APPEAR IN WHITE.
FADES IN THEN THE NAME FADES
IN]
4