Goal-oriented rewards help you make better decisions: How our decision-making process works

Right goals help people make right decisions, because it motivates them perfectly.

Groundbreaking research from UC Berkeley's Department of Psychology is shedding new light on human decision-making processes by emphasizing the importance of goal-oriented rewards. 

Here's how it works.

The study on goals and motivations

The study indicates that people's perception of value is heavily influenced by their personal goals and the context of the decision, rather than being solely determined by an objective reward or outcome.

Using data from over 1,000 individuals collected by various laboratories, the Berkeley team developed an "intrinsically enhanced" reinforcement learning model, challenging previous theories that solely adjusted subjective value based on different observed alternatives. 

The new model emphasizes the crucial role of achieving goals in decision-making.

The potential applications of this research are wide-ranging, from informing public policies to shaping financial decisions and educational strategies. 

In the realm of artificial intelligence, this understanding could lead to more sophisticated models by integrating intrinsic, goal-oriented rewards.

It will help scientists a lot

While this research marks a significant step forward in understanding decision-making processes, further exploration is needed to fully comprehend and apply this concept in different fields. 

The Berkeley team is committed to continuing their exploration in this important area of cognitive neuroscience.
 

• Related news:
• research
• choosing
• motivation
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• 7 August 2023

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