The Smith family faces a difficult decision about caring for Mrs. Smith's elderly mother, Irene, who has Alzheimer's disease. One option is for Irene to move in with the Smiths, which would require the two daughters to share a bedroom. Another option is assisted living, but the costs are uncertain and Mrs. Smith feels torn between familial duty and her own family's needs. The family will need to consider both emotional and practical factors to make the best choice.

1. Assignment 2
Behavioral Decision Making
Team 69314
Santiago Aviles S.
Yolanda Vargas
Javier Barrezueta

2. 1.
Team Dynamics and Decision Process
Capture briefly what you think happened in the team project video.
 Three people (three students, one lady, one girl and one a boy) enter in a meeting
room in order to analyze a project.
 It seems that the girl doesn´t understand the project or doesn´t care about that.
While the lady talks with the boy, the girl gets her cellular phone in order to play or
chat.
 The boy has an idea, but he changed because of the thought of the lady. First he
wants to analyze the Cuban Revolution but the lady prefer the French Revolution.
 The lady doesn´t listen other ideas. There is not enough communication.
What choices were made in the video?
 The revolution project.
What is the likely outcome of the project?
 The likely outcome of the project is that it fails or doesn´t go very well.
Is there a victim?
Who is responsible for the breakdown?
 Everybody. The lady wants to impose her ideas, the boy do not consider other
opinion and the girl does not express her unconformity.

3. Team Dynamics and Decision Process
As you watch, take the perspective of the individual you feel was most
responsible.
• The lady.
Who would they say is at fault?
• Everyone.
Did you see things you hadn’t previously?
• No, we don´t think so.
Have you experienced anything like this?
• Yes.
How could decision process help?
• The girl is reacting to situations without thinking. She must think how one
thing relates to another and the consequences of her decisions.
• Her classmates must ask her for more commitment, and also include her
in the conversation.
• The lady has to accept other ideas.

4. 2.
Smith Family Decision Situation
The Smith family has a big decision to make. Mrs. Smith’s elderly mother, Irene Brown, has
been showing clear signs of Alzheimer’s Disease. Her frequent spells of memory loss have
become quite disturbing and are potentially dangerous. It seems clear that she should no
longer live alone in her own apartment. But where should she go?
One possibility is to have Irene move in with the Smiths. To make space, the Smiths’ two
teenage daughters would have to share a bedroom - this is not something either of them
would like. Also, Mrs. Smith would have to adjust her work schedule so that she could be
home most of the time to look after her mother.
Another possibility is to put Irene into some form of assisted-living arrangement. The Smiths
are unsure which type of care would be most appropriate for Irene both in her current
condition, and in her possible future conditions.
Mr. Smith worries about how long Irene’s finances would allow her to remain in assisted
living. Meanwhile, Mrs. Smith is wrestling with conflicting feelings. On the one hand, she
feels that as a dutiful daughter she should make sacrifices to care for her mother. On the
other, she believes that the needs of her own family and of her career weigh heavily toward
putting her mother in an assisted living home.
© 2013 Decision Education Foundation All Rights Reserved

5. Discussion of Smith Family Case
 Did you notice that you were more likely to identify one type
(head/heart) of issue more than the other?
May be that some of us are more likely to identify from the
heart, but we have to use also the head.
 Would you say that you are a person that leads more from the head
or more from the heart?
The members of the group lead more from the heart than
from the head.
 What kind of decision is this, Head or Heart?
I think this is a decision that they have to do from the heart and
from the head too.
As one member of the group said “I would organize with my
whole family and take the decision”.

6.  How does the Decision Trap of Selective Attention (seeing what
you are most interested in and discounting other information) play
a role in these two cases?
 Viewing the problem not only from the perspective of the heart,
neither only from the perspective of the head, but from both
perspectives.
 How does Decision Process help to answer the challenges that are
created by Decision Traps and our own personal strengths,
weaknesses and experiences?
 Getting better information and being clear about what we really
want.
 Comparing alternatives based on the information and values.
 Proceeding to the committed action.