Now, I want to draw a very important distinction right away — Page 297, Lesson 490

I want to walk you through the start of Chapter 15, which is titled "Decision Making and Risk." This is a new topic, so let's begin at the beginning. The chapter opens with a key definition: "Making a decision is committing to a course of action." That's the foundational idea here. Now, I want to draw a very important distinction right away. The book separates "deciding" from "decision making." "Deciding" may be arbitrary or based on an emotion. In contrast, "decision making" is defined as the step-by-step scientific process which is followed in order to reach a balanced and factual decision. This process is sometimes known as the "Judgement Concept." The book tells us that "deciding" will not be discussed in this chapter — we are only concerned with the structured, scientific process of decision making. Why is this so critical? The most important human factor of any flight is the decision-making process of the crew. Sound decisions lead to a safe and successful outcome to the task, whereas bad decisions may lead to disaster. Decision making brings together many factors which have already been studied individually during this course, so this topic deserves special consideration. When do we need to make a decision? A decision must be made each time there are several possible ways of achieving a given end. The choice will depend on two things: first, the aim to be achieved, and second, the personal preference of the decision maker. The aim of decision making is normally unambiguous — it's usually clear what we're trying to accomplish. However, the personal preference of options to achieve that aim will be influenced by a host of variables. Let me list those variables as the book gives them: the personality and biases of the decision maker, the stakes involved, perception, stress, emotion, training, past experience, motivation, commercial factors — to name but a few. Despite all these variables, it is possible to identify certain common factors that influence decision making regardless of the circumstances. Fortunately, the human being has a number of positive capabilities in the decision-making mechanism. The book lists four of them. First, the ability to make decisions very quickly if involved in a "skill" which is well learned and highly automated. Second, the capability to be creative. Third, the capacity to be innovative. And fourth, the aptitude to cope with novel situations — that's where the excerpt cuts off, but that's the fourth positive capability. So to summarise what we've covered: decision making is a scientific, step-by-step process, distinct from arbitrary deciding. It's the most important human factor in flight, and it depends on the aim and personal preference, which is influenced by many variables. We also have positive human capabilities that support good decision making, like quickness in well-learned skills, creativity, innovation, and the ability to handle novel situations.