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The Decider app uses psychological theory to help you make the best choices.
Full description:
According to Julian Rotter, the founder of modern-day Social-Cognitive Theory, the choices we make are determined by a combination of two types of variables: Value and Expectancy (see Rotter’s Social Learning Theory). Value refers to how much we desire or dread the possible outcomes of a given action. Expectancy refers to how likely we think these possible outcomes are to occur.
Based on this theory, humans should always make the best decisions that are possible given their current state of knowledge. However, in our everyday life we are often unknowingly swayed in our choices by various factors (e.g., habits, compulsions, peer pressure, and lapses in willpower) that are not always in our best interest for attaining what we explicitly value the most. The Decider app helps to correct these errors in decision-making by rationally weighing your value and expectancy of the possible positive and negative outcomes for a given action.
Rather than simply comparing the number of pros and cons for a given action, the Decider app calculates a decision score based upon the following mathematical formulation of Rotter’s Social Learning Theory.
Where:
D = Decision score on whether to perform the behavior or not (ranges from -100 to 100)
Vapo = Value of the action positive outcomes of the behavior (ranges from 0.1 to 100)
Vano = Value of the action negative outcomes of the behavior (ranges from 0.1 to 100)
Eapo = Expectancy of the action positive outcomes of the behavior (ranges from 0.1 to 100)
Eano = Expectancy of the action negative outcomes of the behavior (ranges from 0.1 to 100)
Vipo = Value of the inaction positive outcomes of the behavior (ranges from 0.1 to 100)
Vino = Value of the inaction negative outcomes of the behavior (ranges from 0.1 to 100)
Eipo = Expectancy of the inaction positive outcomes of the behavior (ranges from 0.1 to 100)
Eino = Expectancy of the inaction negative outcomes of the behavior (ranges from 0.1 to 100)
This formula produces a decision on whether to perform a specific action based upon the difference in expectancy (i.e., likelihood) between the positive and negative outcomes of action and inaction, weighted by the value of these outcomes (i.e., how much you desire or dread them).
Updates:
-Version 2.0 of this app now includes a “3rd Option Challenge” button that is designed to help you avoid seeing decisions in a dichotomous way (i.e., as the only options being whether to do a particular action or not) and instead challenges you to think of another way that will make possible all of the positive outcomes without any of the negative ones.