AlternativesPsychology of Personal Decision-Making

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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

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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?

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: Electroshock, 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)

Stupid Idea “Stepping

Stone”

Don’t Judge

Only Positive Though

ts

Potential Solution

Evaluate Solutions

Positive and

Negative Thoughts

Forc

e Fit

Select

ion

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 usesa cardboard box a towel

a nail a sheet of paper

a spoon a fan

a roll of adding machine paper a ball point pen 

the yellow pages an inner tube 

a candle three feet of Scotch tape 

popsicle sticks a plastic drinking glass 

a toothpick a marble 

old newspapers ball bearings that aren't round

worn out automobile tires non-returnable soda bottles

tons of broken rubber bands) pencils

Warmup part deux!

How to heat a house more efficiently How to light a house with a single

bulb

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

stick on flesh colored

plastic rectangular

gauzed

magnetic red or green cloth round medicated

tie on flower pattern paper triangular cellulose

glue on transparent Tyvek octagon sawdust

paint on black metal square plastishred

velcro words (ouch) wood trapezoid plastic

clamp on stripes rubber animals cotton

EX: Develop a better band-aid

Current attributes are in bold below:

Morphological Analysis – Your Turn!

Improve your date night Improve your relationship with your

sig. other Improve your desk job

GIVE ME NOUNS!

Beach Jalepeno House Car Pool Bison Rock Scissors

GIVE ME ACTION VERBS!

Attack Smile Chase EEEeat Surrender Dance Sleeping Listen

Picks

Group 1: Car // Dance Group 2: Group 3: Group 4: Group 5:

Force Fit - Generate 10 ideas for:

Improve a marriage Roommate situation where people

are messy

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!

How can I find a job? How can student afford travel? How can management improve the

store? The store is being hurt by

competition. Clerk helping customer How can student improve writing

ability? How can society solve drug problem?