Is there a scientific method for an individual to use to make good personal decisions?

Question

Recently, I made a bad decision, that seems to me, could have been avoided.This event in my life, only cost me about $300 and 24 hours of hard work. It raised my awareness of the mostly casual way I now make personal decisions. One home repair last year cost me $5000. I made a decision to do it, off the top of my head ,without any real decision making method used. I still do not know if there was a better/less expensive way to do the job. A long time ago, I made a series of personal decisions, with the most care possible, at the time. Cost = $250,000. The minimum amount, possibly much more in future income and related family and health problems. Now, we see that even our government is capable of huge mistakes, costing billions of dollars, and human life. If the government can't make good decisions, how does one person? I mean in everyday life, without many resources, other than intelligence and willingness to try. I would like to have proven, scientific methods. Do they exist for us?

Answer 1

There's no scientifically identified methodology of effective thinking.

You can, however, learn a thing or two from the scientific method itself. The best way to make a decision is by gathering all of the information that you can on it, understanding all the variables involved and how they interact with each other, and weighing knowledge based on how reliable it is.

The first step is to accept reality; try to look at the world around you as it is, rather than as you think it is or should be. That sounds simple, but it's not quite as easy as it seems; most people deceive themselves as to the basic facts of the universe around them, without even knowing it. Mostly, it takes the form of assumptions. The less you assume, the better your decisions will be.

An assumption is anything that you think or believe without having evidence to support it; if you cannot prove a fact or an opinion, you should try to avoid using it in making decisions.

Sometimes it's necessary to assume, though; most of the time, you won't be able to know everything that you need to know. So you have to weigh your assumptions - determine how probable it is that they are correct, and consider the different possible outcomes of your decisions based on the most reliable assumptions. It's basically a matter of educated guessing.

The second step is actually making a decision based on the information you have, and your understanding of how it works. In order to do this, you need a very clear goal; if you aren't clear on your goal, you're going to have an understandably challenging time accomplishing it.

Once you understand your goal, the decision becomes simple: how can you best accomplish that goal with as little effort as possible? Or, if you determine that accomplishing that goal is impossible (and this will happen sometimes), how close can you get to it, and is it worth getting that close?

I think the most important part of the decision itself is costs and benefits; you always want to choose such that your benefits (in terms of accomplishing your goal) outweigh your costs. And that's not just in monetary terms, either; it also involves emotional costs/benefits, and such. You have to weigh it intuitively, more or less. If you know yourself, then you won't have any problem understanding what it is that will benefit you the most. But be realistic in your intuitive figuring; something that feels good now may not feel so great down the road, or something that seems good now may not be once you actually get to it.

It probably sounds rather cut and dry, and also rather complicated in terms of actually making every-day, mundane decisions. But like anything, if you're disciplined in practicing that sort of methodological thinking, it eventually becomes instinctual.

Answer 2

I would say that in life the scientific method is never really enough, because we never really have enough information to prove that most of our decisions will definitively work for us. What we can do, is try to do a practical evaluation of the things that can go wrong in a situation. That way, we can figure out an estimate of the likelihood of something going wrong and plan for things to go wrong so we are not without a plan "B". These things will help somewhat, but you must rely on every resource in your arsenal.

So you should include intuition in your decisions, whether it is your gut feeling or your wife's or mother's. The fact remains that intuition is able to see problems in a plan that are not absolutely discernable by planning. People will read feelings others have about things and then they know that something is up without even really knowing why. This is why many people will "sleep on it", or take time away to be alone to let their mind sift through the information. It's because often us trying to think about it doesn't do enough to really understand whather it's a good plan or not.

Answer 3

I think doing a pro vs con decisions would be more useful, take some time and write out your thoughts should help make a decision. Using a scientific method approach requires you to make a thesis and do experiments and then make a decision on your conclusion. That is probably would take a longer time than you may want.

Answer 4

If you're talking about monetary decisions, make some lists, first, of your needs and wants; secondly, of your income. Research the costs of fulfilling all your needs and wants, and prioritize your expenditures according to which expenditures are most important. if the money won't stretch by any stretch of the imagination, then consider realistic ways of increasing income and/or saving money. A cheaper place? Less eating out? The next step is putting all of this together in formulating a workable plan for living within your means.

But there are personal decisions not directly tied to spending money, ranging from health maintenance to "pursuit of happiness" or finding life satisfaction. This is just my opinion, but I suggest mastery of critical thinking as a tool for gaining insight into what you really believe and what things are most important to you.

A definition of a "good decision" might also be in order. I would define a good decision as one which, taken in context with the realities of your life and all your other decisions, best enhances your life and the life of those your life most affects.

Good luck on your path toward a wiser and more decisive lifestyle.

Answer 5

life is not pure science. because you have a freely independent operating brain you can't break your life down into a scientific method. humans have emotions that cannot be quantified by science and logic. life is trial and error. there are steps you can take to make better decisions. better planning, looking at different possible scenarios and budgeting your money and sticking to it.
to reduce your life to a scientific method, i think, would not be a very interesting life. you're going to make mistakes but you must learn from them so you don't repeat them in the future. if you think about it, science is really nothing more than trial and error. but they use logic and accurate testing. you can do the same.

Answer 6

"I made a decision to do it, off the top of my head ,without any real decision making method used. I still do not know if there was a better/less expensive way to do the job."

The only science you need, it seems, is to THINK before you ACT. Engage your brain before your legs.

Answer 7

they could exist

before making a decision, write all the possibilies on a piece of paper and think about what happen after u decide to do any of the possibilities and what is its probability." for example in making a decision related to marriage, ask urself "if i marry her, what will happen" or "if i don't marry her, what will happen" or " if i marry another one, what will happen"

that's a mathematical method which can be improved by using probability.

governments usually do the same as above. but some times it is too difficult to think about the events happening in future"

Answer 8

~~~SN,,,,, I practice The Golden Rule with an Understanding of The Law of Karma (Cause & Effect) that we are Accountable for our Actions and the Ultimate Goal is "Enlightenment" ,,,and graduation from Earth School. ~~Christianity has very much to offer if one keeps in perspective that the Symbolism of this religion's Iconography and Allegory has Specific Meanings which were Plagiarized from philosophies predating it by 100's and 1,000's of years, which have been Lost to the corruption and greed of the very Keepers of The Faith. However in it's current form it only serves it's Human Masters and offers very little in the way of Spiritual Nourishment and Perpetuates Misinformation.

Answer 9

Yes, there is, and funnily enough it is called - ''The Scientific Method'' Check it out, google it or whatever

Answer 10

Oh jeez. Think twice, I suppose. Honestly though, I use this thing to make many decisions, its so helpful.

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