Neuroscience for a new concept of decision-making style

Abstract

Decision-making styles refer to the style through which individuals identify and evaluate the information needed to make a decision and how they usually consider the various possible alternatives. While decision-making styles have been explored from several research perspectives, no neuroscientific studies addressed this topic before. Considering the neuroscientific findings on the study of the decision-making process, the purpose of this article is to go beyond the traditional models conceptualizing the styles of decisionmaking and to provide a novel insight and definition of this concept, through the identification of some of the prerogatives most closely associated with the notion of style: these include self-representation, adaptability, and risk-taking. Within this conceptual framework, it is proposed that the style of a decision-maker is strictly linked to the physiological tendency to tolerate and regulate stress, to the ability to self-represent one’s goals and be able to prioritize them, to the adaptability level, and to risk-taking and management traits. To fully understand the construct of decision-making styles, this theoretical contribution also underlines the importance of adopting a conceptual perspective that takes into account behavioural, self-report and neuroscientific measures to profile decision-makers.