CC 2.1: Irrelevant Decision Making

In an article entitled "The Impact of the Irrelevant on Decision-Making'" posted on The New York Times, Robert H. Frank, an economics professor at the Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University, states that most economists are well aware of the options that they are considering during a day to day basis.


According to Frank, he believes that "most economists are content with a slightly weaker assumption: that people respond in approximately rational ways to the information available to them... [and] even patently false or irrelevant information often affects [their] choices in significant ways." When people choose to set their alarms five minutes early for the morning, the images in their brains trigger information that allow them to effortlessly perform their actions, showing one's sense that does not fool them at all. At the same time, the anxiety in our minds warns us to keep going, making the process to work, keeping us from thinking other wise.


Robert H. Frank also claims in his article that "Although cigarette advertisements, for example, typically portray smokers as young, healthy and attractive, smoking can make people look older and less healthy. Such ads make no explicitly false claims, but that doesn’t make them less misleading, even for informed consumers." Its a distinction without a difference; when those who are addicted to a certain product, the minds of the victims are already set to that specific idea of " I am addicted and I cannot stop". 

The mind works in many various ways. In Franks words, "moral sentiments are extremely powerful drivers of human behavior. People who know they’ll be ridiculed for telling untruths are more likely to show restraint." Knowing that a statement is false, a person does not change it's mind set, making no difference to their opinion. They must be discouraged that the knowledge is, in fact, the truth to make it effective. False or irrelevant information can impact an irrelevant decision. We must encourage ourselves that what we hear or see is factual or else our brains would not trigger at all.  

I think back to the times that I have attempted to trick my mind when it came to getting things done. Such as getting up on time for school. I would routinely set my alarm clock thirty minutes earlier than what I had planned to wake up at, but my body and mind would know that I had thirty more minutes to kill some sleeping time, making it even harder for me to wake up when I had to. My body, laying tirelessly on my bed, would crave for those extra minutes that it can.

Our brains are a lot smarter than we think it is, no matter how hard we try to trick our minds. What we know is settled and that is that. We cannot lie to ourselves when we know the truth!

Frank, Robert H. "The Impact of the Irrelevant on Decision-Making." Nytimes.com.
        New York Times, 29 May 2010. Web. 8 Nov. 2013.                                                                 <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/30/business/30view.html?_r=1&>.