1. Visual illusions (also called optical illusions) show that the brain can be readily fooled. (1 page) a. What insights do visual illusions offer us regarding the workings of the brain? b. How can these insights be extended to explain the brain’s role in decision making? 2. One of the most intriguing questions we face when studying how the brain functions in making decisions is: What role does the unconscious brain play in decision making? (1-2 pages total) a. What are the strengths and limitations of the conscious brain in decision making? b. How can the unconscious brain contribute to an individual’s decision making capability? c. What do anecdotal accounts—such as those provided by Malcolm Gladwell in Blink—tell us about the role of the unconscious brain in decision making? d. What do experimental studies—such as those carried out by Wilson and Dijksterhuis—tell us? e. Based on the experimental studies reported in Framing Decisions, what are the merits of making on-the-spot decisions vs. decisions after substantial deliberation (e.g, by sleeping on a decision)? 3. Page 104 of Framing Decisions identifies four sets of questions decisions makers need to address when making decisions of consequence in order to surface potential moral hazard situations. Explain the rationale underlying each question. If you ask these questions when deliberating on decisions of consequence, how can you improve the quality of your decision making? (1-2 pages) Solution Answer-1 a. When you look at something, what you’re really seeing is the light that bounced off of it and entered your eye, which converts the light into electrical impulses that your brain can turn into an image you can use. The process that takes about a tenth of a second but your eyes receive a constant stream of light, an incredible amount of information, so it’s really difficult for your brain to try to focus on everything at once. It would be like trying to take a sip of water from a firehose. So your brain takes shortcuts, simplifying what you see to help you concentrate on what’s important, which helps compensate for your brain’s tenth-of-a-second processing lag. This trait helped early humans survive encounters with fast predators – or at the very least avoid running into obstacles like trees. b. a sample of three decision errors. First, the default effectoccurs when people end up “choosing” different options when allowed not to choose at all, i.e., when a lack of any active selection returns the default. Impressively, countries that allow individuals to decline being a potential organ donor have far greater donor pools than countries that allow individuals to decline not being a potential donor (Johnson & Goldstein, 2003). Second, Dan reports that physicians are more likely to pull a patient back from scheduled surgery when they discover that they forgot to test the efficacy of one drug, than when they notice that they overlooked two drugs. In the latter case, the physicians would need t.

1. 1. Visual illusions (also called optical illusions) show that the brain can be readily fooled. (1
page)
a. What insights do visual illusions offer us regarding the workings of the brain?
b. How can these insights be extended to explain the brain’s role in decision making?
2. One of the most intriguing questions we face when studying how the brain functions in
making decisions is: What role does the unconscious brain play in decision making? (1-2 pages
total)
a. What are the strengths and limitations of the conscious brain in decision making?
b. How can the unconscious brain contribute to an individual’s decision making capability?
c. What do anecdotal accounts—such as those provided by Malcolm Gladwell in Blink—tell us
about the role of the unconscious brain in decision making?
d. What do experimental studies—such as those carried out by Wilson and Dijksterhuis—tell
us?
e. Based on the experimental studies reported in Framing Decisions, what are the merits of
making on-the-spot decisions vs. decisions after substantial deliberation (e.g, by sleeping on a
decision)?
3. Page 104 of Framing Decisions identifies four sets of questions decisions makers need to
address when making decisions of consequence in order to surface potential moral hazard
situations. Explain the rationale underlying each question. If you ask these questions when
deliberating on decisions of consequence, how can you improve the quality of your decision
making? (1-2 pages)
Solution
Answer-1
a. When you look at something, what you’re really seeing is the light that bounced off of it and
entered your eye, which converts the light into electrical impulses that your brain can turn into an
image you can use. The process that takes about a tenth of a second but your eyes receive a
constant stream of light, an incredible amount of information, so it’s really difficult for your
brain to try to focus on everything at once. It would be like trying to take a sip of water from a
firehose. So your brain takes shortcuts, simplifying what you see to help you concentrate on
what’s important, which helps compensate for your brain’s tenth-of-a-second processing lag.
This trait helped early humans survive encounters with fast predators – or at the very least avoid
running into obstacles like trees.
b. a sample of three decision errors. First, the default effectoccurs when people end up

2. “choosing” different options when allowed not to choose at all, i.e., when a lack of any active
selection returns the default. Impressively, countries that allow individuals to decline being a
potential organ donor have far greater donor pools than countries that allow individuals to
decline not being a potential donor (Johnson & Goldstein, 2003). Second, Dan reports that
physicians are more likely to pull a patient back from scheduled surgery when they discover that
they forgot to test the efficacy of one drug, than when they notice that they overlooked two
drugs. In the latter case, the physicians would need to make a second decision about the order in
which to test the two drugs. They might consider this to be a drag. This effect is troubling
because if two drugs remain to be tried, the chances that at least one will work are greater than if
only one drug remains. Finally, Dan offers the asymmetric dominance effect first described by
Huber, Payne & Puto (1982). He asks us to imagine having a choice between a weekend in
Rome and a weekend in Paris with all expenses paid. The rate of preferring one option (say
Rome) goes up when a third option is introduced which would be identical to it were it not for
the addition of one negative feature (you have to pay for your morning coffee). Since no one
prefers the Rome-minus-coffee option over the Rome-with-coffee option, the former option is
dominated and should be ignored. The rate at which people prefer a paid trip to Rome should
only depend on how it compares with a paid trip to Paris.
Answer-2
a. This is the mind that is responsible for our personal thoughts and is the main instrument that
we use to experience reality around us. It is through the conscious mind that we experience
situations and what the tapestry of life has to offer us, both objectively and also subjectively. It is
logical, analytical, it has reasoning and capable of making decisions. It controls our actions on
the conscious level, discipline, discrimination and concentration among others. This is the mind
which controls our intelligence factors.
The limitation of the conscious mind is that it seems to have very restricted abilities regarding
memories. The jury is out on whether it can access memory at all of its own accord, and if it can
achieve this then it is likely linked to the short-term memory. So, in this context the conscious
mind is not that powerful on its own, as it is so restricted to what it can actually achieve; having
no point of reference to build any decisions upon and this is where the unconscious comes in and
between them, there is no limit to what can be achieved.
b. It is logical, analytical, it has reasoning and capable of making decisions. It controls our
actions on the conscious level, discipline, discrimination and concentration among others. This is
the mind which controls our intelligence factors.
c. The unconscious also creates function beyond any thought process both within the physical
body itself and also with our actions and activities. Then there is possibly the most significant
function of all, its ability to create our belief systems; the possibilities and conversely, the

3. restrictions that we place upon ourselves. The deep recesses of the mind are the domain of the
unconscious. It is the storehouse and infrastructure to our personalities; our opinions, values,
ethics and morals all stemming from this single place. Since our very first breath the unconscious
has been busy soaking in the information contained within our environment like a sponge
absorbs a liquid, to build a picture of the reality we find ourselves in. This process continues
throughout our lifetime, only stopping with our last breath.
d. Two experiments examined the benefits of unconscious thought on complex decisions
(Dijksterhuis, 2004). Experiment 1 attempted to replicate and extend past research by examining
the effect of providing reasons prior to rating the options. Results indicated no significant
differences between the conditions. Experiment 2 attempted to replicate the findings of
Dijksterhuis, Bos, Nordgren, and van Baaren (2006) and determine if a memory aid could
overcome the limitations of conscious thought on complex tasks. Results revealed that a memory
aid improved decisions compared to the conscious thought condition. Participants in the
unconscious thought condition did not perform significantly better than did participants in the
conscious thought condition.
e. It can be something as simple as letting a call through that does not meet your employer’s
exact requirements (e.g. “Take a message unless someone is dying”) or deciding whether or not
to sign for a package when you know you are not authorized to do so. You need to be able to
distinguish between times when there is a real emergency – you might decide to let a call
through that does not really meet the definition of “deathbed” – and when you are just being
emotionally manipulated – you probably ought to opt not to let the sales rep in when your boss
has only ten minutes free time all day no matter how sorry you feel for him or how nice he is to
remember your favorite coffee and bring it by.
You make on-the-spot decisions at work all the time; you probably just do not recognize most of
them. You can benefit greatly from learning to isolate and identify why you make these
decisions. Do you hate to tell people “no?” Can you not stand it when someone is mad at you?
Do you just want to inconvenience your boss whenever possible? Whatever the reason, learning
to make good, valid and, let’s face it, defensible decisions on the spot will help you grow as an
employee and mature as a person.