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Psychology of Personal Decision-Making. #1. #2. Alternatives. #3. Agenda. Video: Perception change Zero Points Alternatives Exercise: Speeding up time. Zero Points. Frame of reference is damn important : EX: waterfalls and the desert Sorrow and difficulty lower the bar
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Psychology of Personal Decision-Making #1 #2 Alternatives #3
Agenda • Video: Perception change • Zero Points • Alternatives • Exercise: Speeding up time
Zero Points • Frame of reference is damn important : • EX: waterfalls and the desert • Sorrow and difficulty lower the bar • Simple things enable us to better appreciate life • E.g. – losing a limb • Good fortune/comfort raises the reference point • Comforts which used to give us pleasure are needed to remain neutral or avoid pain • Cost to pleasure and benefit in pain • Moving up is NOT as important as moving down
Creative Thinking about Alternatives • Win/win alternatives are best! • Analysis of: • Values • Causes • Resources • Alternatives checklists
Only 2 Alternatives? • Usually this means you’ve got more work to do!
Analysis of Values • Use your values (one at a time) to come up with different alternatives • Get more this way • Also higher quality #1 #2 #3
Analysis of Values + Efficiency • Helps when your values are SPECIFIC • Focus on values which eliminate greatest number of alternatives • EX: buying a new laptop affordability • Focus on the most important values • Rank order if necessary • Carrying Weight – 1 • Battery Life – 2 • Performance – 3
Analysis of Values • Get clear about where you want to BE or GO and then work backwards • EXERCISE: Speeding up time to work backwards!
Analysis of Values • Imagine 200 years from now your very great grandchildren find an article about you in the Wikipedia. What does that article say about you? What kind of person were you? What did you do with your life? Why are you interesting enough to be in Wikipedia?
Analysis of Alternatives • Think about attributes of alternatives • Get more alternatives!
Analysis of Causes • 4 sisters bereave death of a millionaire • 3 of them get $330,000 apiece in gold, the fourth gets $10,000 worth of stamps • Sister is pissed, what to do? • Embarrass sisters • Seek assistance of Italians • Sue
Fundamental Attribution Error • Beware the FAE! • Thermostat was too low!
FAE • Focus on situations, not people’s dispositions • More EX: Milgram Prison Guards, Nazis, etc.
Analysis of Resources • MacGyver!!!
Analysis of Resources • Make use of what is around you to come up with novel alternatives • Objects – tree stumps • People – sages nearby • Career choices: • “types of jobs near here” • “income potential” • SWOT Analysis
Alternatives Checklist • We been here before: • - Importance • - Uncertainty • + Hope • More coming in “uncertainty” (of course)
Classification & Sub Problems • Group many competing alternatives into larger buckets EX: School choices • Decide on those buckets instead • Eliminate lots of confusing info that way! • Sub-Problems • What do you want your wedding to accomplish? • Break apart and conquer
Well Structured Alternatives • Criteria: • At least 2 alternatives (preferably more) • Mutually exclusive • ONE path, not meandering into another possible solution at the same time • Substantially differing alternatives
The day of stupid ideas starts… now! • Ask: • What is “good” about this stupid idea? • Avoid negative criticism • Simply stops thoughts • Try keeping your thought stream open
What this looks like (use for BIG picture problems) Force Fit Selection Stupid Idea “Stepping Stone” Potential Solution Evaluate Solutions Don’t Judge Only Positive Thoughts Positive and Negative Thoughts
Developing Alternatives! • Values analysis • Work backward to alternatives • Attribute analysis • Can you combine to create “win-win”? • Causal analysis • Asking “Why” 5 times • Resource analysis • What alternatives could be in the immediate environment?
Creative Group Alternative Development! • Break into teams of 5 • Choose a recorder • Choose a moderator • Moderator makes sure people DON’T evaluate! • Keep it sequential – can say “pass” • Keep it playful! • Doodle, make airplanes, smile
Block busting warmup • Functional fixation… is bad. Pick one! 25 uses
Warmup part deux! • How to heat a house more efficiently • How to light a house with a single bulb • How to improve your travel from home to school • Inventing a new Olympic game • How to improve jail food without increasing the cost
Attribute Analysis • 80 million roundish ball bearings • “What can I do with 80 million of these?” • Roundish, heavy, metal, smooth, shiny, hard, magnetizable • “What can I do with 80 million things”? • Conduct electricity • Magnetize them • Melt em’ • Make tools with them metal
Attribute Analysis cont’d • Attribute discovery checklist: • Physical: color, weight, material, speed, odor, size • Psychological: appearance, symbolism, emotion (“happy smell of detergent”) • Functional: intended use, how it does what it does • People: who’s involved?
Morphological Analysis • List the attributes as before • Under each attribute, list all alternatives you can think of • Choose an alternative from each column and assemble choices into a new idea. • Rinse and repeat!
Morphological Analysis • EX: Develop a better band-aid • Current attributes are in bold below:
Morphological Analysis – Your Turn! • Improve a bus • Improve a cellphone • Improve a chair • Improve a shoe • Improve the game of basketball
GIVE ME NOUNS! • Hamster • Monkey • Bridge • Desk • Parachute • CP2 • Spain • Personality • President • Piano • Hairpiece • Herpes • Bike • Concept • Noun • Disk
GIVE ME ACTION VERBS! • Kick • Jump • Blame • Play • Explode • Run • Kill/Exterminate • Enhance • Illuminate • Pickle • Tickle • Can • Enslave • Slide • Throw • Eat
Picks • Group 1: Ensalve/bridge • Group 2: Personality Explode • Group 3: • Group 4: • Group 5:
Force Fit - Generate 10 ideas for: • A new snack food • How to keep rowdy children quiet on a school bus • How to get more tourists into the US • How compatible people can meet each other for romance • How to reduce hospital costs • How to reduce airport congestion and delays • A name for a new laundry detergent • How to keep your car keys safe at the beach • A new toy • A new consumer electronic product
Force Fit - Improvements! • How could the following be “excellent”? • List 10 ways to improve: • PSU • A marriage • The Lloyd Center • Tri-Met • Television
Reversal • The reverse is also true! • EX: “a teacher instructing students” • Reversed: • “students instruct teacher” • “teacher UN-instructing students” • “students instructing themselves” • “teacher instructing self”
REVERSAL – Your Turn! • The store is being hurt by competition. • How can breeder sustainably breed lizards? • How can student afford travel? • How can management improve the store? • Street cleaner cleaning streets. • Workers striking against company • Clerk helping customer • How can student improve writing ability? • How can society solve drug problem?