Beyond Rational Decision-Making: Wisdom and Courage in School and Work Transitions

1. Beyond Rational Decision-Making: Wisdom and Courage in School and Work Transitions Thomas S. Krieshok University of Kansas tkrieshok@ku.edu

2. 2 The readiness is all. Shakespeare

3. Members of the A (Adaptability) Team: Abby Bjornsen Benjamin Rutt Brian Cole Carrissa Huffman Chris Ebberwein Craig Beeson Dan Cox Eric Lyche Jeff Rettew John Jacobson Kate Sirridge Kirsten Wells Kristin Rasmussen Maggie Syme Mary Krogmann Matt Robinson Melanie Noble Mike Black Rhea Owens Rich Scott Robyn McKay Sarah Brown Selby Conrad Shawn Bubany Thomas Motl Thai Le Andrea Herrick Wendy Shoemaker Heath Schechinger Ali Nashati Candi Ackerman

4. The Old Biggest Problem:Getting Decided Holy grail of career outcomes The �Undecided Problem�

5. A Proposed New Biggest Problem: Developing an Adaptive relationship to the marketplace

6. Adaptive relationship to the marketplace Ability to move about in� Transition into and out of� Accurately appraise one�s strengths and weaknesses as a player in the marketplace Not one�s abilities as a worker per se

7. An Extremist Position Three frightening things about the way we have traditionally thought about decision making.

8. An Extremist Position: a. It doesn�t matter, because you don�t get to keep your decision anyway. b. We can�t help you choose rationally, because that�s not how people make choices c. Opportunity Costs: The matching model implies more control than you really have, and keeps you from doing that which you should really be doing (engaging).

9. Radical Argument 1: You don�t get to keep your decision anyway. Even if there was a time when matching did work, today�s world of work is so turbulent that we can no longer count on keeping our match.

10. Radical Argument 2: We can�t help you choose rationally, because that�s not how people make choices

11. Deciding is not an issue -- when it's easy But, for our clients it's not easy

12. Consensus: Human decision making is juicy

13. What is it that controls human behavior?

14. We are of two minds Intuitive, non-conscious mind -related to �older� functions of the brain Rational, often conscious mind -related to �newer� functions of the brain -especially language

15. The Rational/Intuitive Dialectic The Nobel Prize winning work of Tversky and Kahneman (1973; 1974; 1982). A two-system view, in which System 1 refers to intuition and System 2 refers to reason.

16. The Rational/Intuitive Dialectic System 1 operations are typically habitual, implicit, heuristic, and often emotionally charged. System 2 operations are typically deliberate, explicit, systematic, and not generally subject to emotion.

17. CONSCIOUSNESS Consciousness is limited 20 bps processor Information processed is vast 11,000,000 bits per second

18. Conscious thought is very expensive Norretranders (1998) One millionth of sensory input processed consciously Pinker (1997) 98% processed unconsciously Spotlight on a stage

19. Conscious processing uses valuable mental energy Drivers given mental puzzle Cell phone use

20. Is Intuition in Charge? Our capacity for rationality is constrained. Simon (Nobel Prize 1955) Which leads to satisficing a crude application of reason we settle for an adequate selection as opposed to the optimal one.

21. Unconscious Decisions Automatic But still usually satisfying

24. The Kid in the Back Seat. Always guessing the intentionality of the driver Presume an adult in the driver�s seat Maybe another grownup in the passenger�s seat

25. Consciousness is the kid in the back seat Unconscious is driving Making mostly good decisions Consciousness thinks it is driving BUT...the literature suggests otherwise

26. The Elephant and the Rider (Haidt) The elephant (Bargh�s �Wise Unconscious�) Makes most day to day decisions The rider Has some input, but not as much as we think

27. Intuition runs the show But depends on good experience Klein vs. Kahneman

28. Kahneman & Klein American Psychologist article What can we agree on? Good intuitive decisions are possible when there are consistent learnable patterns underlying outcomes But�People do not have a strong ability to distinguish correct intuitions from faulty ones

29. We experience the world as conscious choosers Either not that way at all Or at least much less conscious authority than we believe Anti-Introspectivist view of career decision making (Krieshok, 1998)

30. The heart has its reasons, that reason knows not of PascalThere�s someone in my head, but it�s not me. Pink Floyd

31. Errors in retracing our decisions Telling more than we can know subliminal perception order effects effects of others' presence on helping

32. Thoughts on Self-Knowledge Through the Ages Know thyself (Temple to Apollo at Delphi). To know thyself is the fundamental requisite (Parsons). Only the shallow know themselves (O. Wilde).

33. Interpreter Module (Gazzaniga) Fabricates what must be happening

34. Soelberg�s 1967 study with MIT grads We identify a �favorite� early on We engage in an �exercise in prejudice� to ensure our favorite wins We only commit once we have an adequate rationalization

35. Two things to make better decisions Soelberg, 1967 1) Get feedback from people you trust 2) Intentionally avoid making decisions

36. A limited role for rational thought Work within the limits of consciousness Use conscious planning to put things in motion especially how NOT to decide. Use reason to plan engagement intentionally Use reason to frame the decision making process

37. Wisdom-driven Decisions We make better decisions when we are coming from our Whole self, our Wisdom self, rather than from our feared notions. Under normal circumstances, the things that play into our decisions unconsciously may be more our fears than anything else. So one of the things we need to do rationally, is to tap into our intuition in a healthy positive way, and listen to our fears (our negatively energized non-conscious processes) and bring those into the light so we can make good decisions.

38. Anti-Introspectivist view of career decision making (Krieshok, 1998) Under some circumstances, casual reflection on decisional processes can be detrimental to making good decisions My favorite study: the cat poster

39. Chinese proverb To be uncertain is uncomfortable, But to be certain is ridiculous.

40. Should We Introspect? Rational analysis of judgments often results in� Reliance on inferior selection criteria Preferences culminating in suboptimal choices Diminished satisfaction with those choices (cat poster study) When forced to reflect about reasons, we invoke Gazzaniga�s Interpreter Module

41. But we are unaware we do this- And convinced that we do not. We easily generate a list of reasons for attraction to occupations or partners Not consistent with what we ACTUALLY rely on (Krieshok, et al. 1986)

42. Such lists At the foundation of virtually all the computerized guidance systems Integral to the way most career counselors practice with their clients "Let's figure out what's important to you in a career, and then generate a list of alternatives that meet those criteria."

43. Mark Twain: It ain�t what you don�t know that gets you into trouble. It�s what you know for sure that ain�t so that gets you into trouble.

44. Summary of Argument 2 There is whole lot more going on under the hood than we acknowledge Most decisions are largely unconscious Only a problem when we cannot easily decide When we try to access those processes we cannot (at least not easily) But we think we can

45. Ridiculous Argument III:Opportunity Costs The matching model implies more control than you really have, and distracts you from doing that which you should really be doing (engaging).

46. Parsons� Choosing a Vocation (1909) a) Self-knowledge b) World of work knowledge c) True Reasoning