Chapter 4 Developing Decision-Making Skills 85
What can help you make good decisions, ones
that are responsible and lead to the end results
that you want? The decisions an individual makes
are infl uenced by the following factors:
• intellectual maturity
• social and emotional maturity
• values
• goals
• standards
• resources
Your Intellectual Maturity
In order to make good decisions, you need to
be able to recognize what the effects of a decision
might be. Mature thinking skills will help you do
that (Figure 4.1).
As you grow and mature, thinking skills become
more advanced. You can think about abstract ideas
as well as concrete objects. You can reason about
ideas and issues and draw conclusions. You can
project thoughts about your life, or think ahead
and plan ideas for the future.
Growing and maturing also bring new and
different experiences. You can use information
from past experiences to think through current
decisions. You can identify options, fi gure out the
likely outcomes of each, and compare the options.
With experience, your ability to think of different
options and to predict the future will be better.
Gaining mature thinking skills leads to more
satisfying decisions.
Your Social and Emotional
Maturity
Good decisions show evidence of mature social
and emotional responses. As you mature socially,
you make choices that benefi t not only you, but
others around you. When you consider possible
options, you recognize that others in your life will
be affected by your decisions. Responsible decisions
consider the needs of others as well as your needs.
As you mature, you are able to recognize and
control your emotional responses to a situation.
This gives you time to think through a decision
and make better choices. Emotional maturity will
help you make responsible decisions.
Your Values
Your values include all the ideals and beliefs
that are important to you. The values you consider
important will infl uence the decisions you make
and the actions you take. Responsible decision
making requires that you consider values that are
important to yourself, your family, and others in
your community when making and carrying out
a decision.
How Values Develop
Your values are infl uenced largely by those
around you. The society you live in, the culture
around you, the individuals and groups around
you, and your family all impact your values. So
does your personality.
The society in which you live shapes your
values. Democracy, freedom of religion, freedom
of speech, and freedom from fear and want are
examples of societal values taught in the United
States.
Various cultures within a society may hold
additional values. For example, some cultures
place a strong emphasis on intergenerational ties
(Figure 4.2). When people of several cultures live in
a society, the values of one culture may infl uence
the members of other cultures.
Both formal and informal social groups have
group values that are shared by everyone in the
Figure 4.1 Your ability to make decisions improves
as you develop these intellectual skills. What are
some situations where you practice these skills?
Evidence of Mature Thinking Skills
• Thinks about abstract ideas.
• Uses logical reasoning to draw conclusions.
• Projects thoughts about the future.
• Predicts possible outcomes.
• Compares ideas and thinks about which
outcome might be best.
Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc.