Problem Solving and Decision Making

Chapter 1: the quarter back in the pocket

The first chapter focused on the importance of decision making process. Jonah Lehrer present the decision making process, it shows how player made decision that led his team to victory in the 2002 superbowl. It’s also shows that for several years now, Brady, who plays for the New England patriots, has constantly been one of the league’s most productive passers. And given Brady’s impressive win loss record, it’s demonstrate that majority of his emotionally taken decisions are good ones. Emotional decision making is not just effective for NFL football players sometimes they do have to think rationally...

1.1 Deciding without thinking

Lehrer talk about “Five-wide” formation, that means Bradley will often check five different receivers before decide where to throw the ball. Five-Wide is the strategy use by Brady to successes in his career. Quarterback is forced to evaluate each of his passing alternatives without knowing how he’s evaluating them. Lehrer believes that sometime mind make decisions without you, they are very quick. According to Brady you just need to know the target and focus on it and win is yours…..

1.2 The Horses and Charioteer

Plato imagines the mind as a chariot pulled by two horses (a well-behaved one and a stubborn one); the rational brain is the charioteer, as it holds the reins and decides where the horses run. According to Plato horses are our emotions. Using this metaphor, Plato divided the mind into two separate spheres, where desire and reason are pulling in different directions. On the other hand Sigmund Freud the mind is bit different from Plato’s, Freud imagined the human mind as divided into a series of conflicting parts. A modern science came up with new metaphor: the mind was like a computer were “ software programs running on three pounds of neural hardware” the problem with seeing the mind as a computer is that computer doesn’t have feelings and emotions.

1.3 The...