Ways of coping with uncertainty in the situation of choice and decision making

In this article we examine the problem of overcoming the human uncertainty in situations of choice and decision making. We examine the main theoretical approaches to the problem. We raise the problem of the human response to the situation of choice and uncertainties, describe the phenomenon of "future shock". We examine various authors' approaches (J.-P. Sartre, V.P. Zinchenko, T.V. Kornilova, R. Descartes, A. Toffler, K.E. Fabri, et al.), examine ways to overcome such uncertainties as the postulation of predestination, activity, appeal to reason, values, symbols from above, faith, instincts and feelings, asking for advice. On the basis of the theoretical analysis we conclude that the usage of these methods is restricted, and they are not universal. Then we provide results of our own experimental study on methods of uncertainty reducing. As the experimental situation we use the discussion of the uncertain situation and making a decision. As indicators of uncertainty reducing we considered subjects' evaluation of their confidence in the decision they made (from 0% to 100%) and attractiveness of the decision (by selecting colour associations). Our subjects were university students aged 18-25, the total sample size was 122 people. The study examines the impact of values, the subjective control level (SCL) and the possibility of a collective discussion influence on the subjects' perception of uncertainty in the situation of decision making. In this case, a statistically significant impact of the values and SCL on the subjective evaluation of the decision has not been detected. We found out the tendencies of specificity of group impact on the perception of uncertainty. We also consider the possibility of using game (social) roles as a way to reduce uncertainty. We make conclusions about the influence of the examined ways on the subjects' perception of uncertainty; they are not universal ways of uncertainty reducing, but they can subjectively reduce or hide it to a certain degree. Also there are tendencies detected, that allow us to conclude that using game roles can be one of the ways of reducing uncertainty in the situation of choice and decision making. The obtained results allow us to expand the scientific understanding of the phenomenon of uncertainty and ways of overcoming it, make the basis for psychological and pedagogical work on developing uncertainty resistance and learning to overcome situations of uncertainty. As the perspective of future research we consider the search of universal ways of uncertainty overcoming in the situation of choice and decision making, as well as experimental research with different game roles.

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