The Individual Decision-Making Process

In previous chapters I have examined the importance of personal characteristics and the influences on individuals of the general environment within which they live. During much of these discussions individuals have assumed a rather passive role, but real life is characterised by the need for individuals to be constantly active in taking decisions. My previous discussions, I hope to show, will provide us with a better understanding of the nature of many of the key decisions which have to be taken. In Part three I will bring the whole issue of personal decision-making to centre stage. We cannot hope, it must be stressed, to cover all potentially relevant aspects of the voluminous work on decision-making which has appeared in recent decades. Instead, I shall concentrate on those aspects which seem most useful to our purposes. This will mean cutting a number of corners, and omitting material which some readers might consider of crucial relevance, but the approach adopted here can always be supplemented and extended by those who find the general approach useful.