Psych In Your World: Decisions, Fast and Slow

By Adam Steiner

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The “Psych In Your World” video series features short lectures by psychology professors at Minnesota State University, Mankato on a range of topics connected to psychology. These videos were created as resources for teachers of psychology at all levels. We also provide discussion questions for each video for you to use with your students.

Many researchers have combined brain science with different areas of psychology to examine how the actions and structures of our brain influence our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. In this video, neuroscientist Dr. Adam Steiner talks about the different brain regions that influence how we make decisions.

As you watch the video, think about the following questions: 

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  • The majority of people probably do not enjoy the feeling of fear. So, could we just get rid of the amygdala and stop feeling fear? What would be the problem with this? 

  • What might be an instance where you would want to utilize fast decision making? Why? 

  • What might be an instance where you would want to utilize slow decision making? Why? 

Resources

Podcast Episode: Hidden Brain's "You 2.0: Decide Already!" 

Listen to find out why we are bad at predicting our future happiness, how that affects our decision making & why we’re actually happier after making a decision that feels irrevocable.  

This lesson plan contains more ideas for discussion and activities related to this video.

Outreach, PedagogyKarla Lassondepsych in your world