Science of Decision Making

It’s at this point in the course where we want to share with you a bit of science on the link between stress and decision making. When you understand there is science behind your behaviors it reduces the amount of negative self-talk you have and allows you to get to the root of the situation.

Decision making is impacted by both acute and chronic stress. During acute stress events the area of the brain that controls most of the decision making process, the prefrontal cortex, is bombarded with surges of stress hormones resulting in slower decision times and a limited captivity to choose between options larger than two. Although you may be making decisions, the complex and convoluted ones are probably much more difficult than if you were not stressed.

It’s chronic stress that does serious damage to your ability to make decisions. Here are just a few findings from studies:

• Corticosteroids, released during chronic stress, impacts the structure of the prefrontal cortex, where decision making occurs (1)
• Chronic stress causes changes to circuits within the prefrontal cortex which slows the decision making process and inhibits habit formation (1)
• Brain regions where decision making occurs are sensitive to stress-induced changes (2)
• Stress affects decisions under various degrees of uncertainty. (2)
• Stress alters underlying decision-making mechanisms. (2)
• Stress has been shown to impair decision making (3)
• While elevated, cortisol concentrations may negatively affect decision making (3)

What’s important to take away from this very short list of research studies is that there is a real reason why decision making stresses you out. If you struggle with this skill it’s not inherently because you are a terrible decision maker. It can, and most likely is, a result of your stress levels and the impact stress is having on your decisions.

The great news is, you are in the right place.

1. Eduardo Dias-Ferreira¹,²,³,  João C. Sousa¹ , et al. Science 31 Jul 2009: 325, Issue 5940, pp. 621-625 DOI: 10.1126/science.1171203.
2. Katrin Starcke, Matthias Brand, Decision making under stress: A selective review, Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, Volume 36, Issue 4, 2012, Pages 1228-1248, ISSN 0149-7634.
3. Stephan Pabst, Matthias Brand, Oliver T. Wolf, Stress and decision making: A few minutes make all the difference, Behavioural Brain Research, Volume 250, 2013, Pages 39-45, ISSN 0166-4328, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbr.2013.04.046.