Some decisions we make very quickly, others we agonise over for a long time, hoping we make the right choice. They can be small, such as choosing what to buy for lunch, or as important as selecting the right treatment for a disease. But how good are we at making decisions and what influences our thoughts? Psychologists have long studied how external factors affect the way we make decisions and looked at the way our brains work when presented with different options.
In this zone, students will meet five psychologists working on different aspects of decision making and human behaviour. One is researching how bilingual and non-bilingual people react differently to emotional words, one studies how we use the senses to perceive the world, and one investigates how we weigh up evidence for decision making. One studies why people get into bad habits like getting drunk and their behaviour, and another examines how things can be designed to encourage people to choose them.