Criminal Justice

Write one page to the following questions about decision-making. What was the largest decision you have had to make? What helped you make that decision? Were there particular people or experiences that helped you? According to the test, what type of decision-making strategies do you tend to use most often? Where are you currently in your career decision process?

ANSWER

Decision Making

One of the most significant decisions I have had to make is leaving alcohol which I have lived with for years. Alcohol addiction and abuse have behavioral effects and health impacts that can only be prevented by quitting alcohol. Stopping or quitting alcohol is not an easy decision, but it depends on the willingness of an individual to avoid alcohol. I used to waste most of my time with friends taking alcohol during our free time. Understanding peer pressure was one of the most incredible things that helped me make healthy choices about alcohol. Ideally, the kind of friends that one hangs out with greatly influence one’s behavior. One feels that they need to keep up with their mates through drinking more. However, I felt that I need strategies to deal with peer pressure through creative ways that would help me avoid alcohol use.

I felt that I was becoming physically dependent on alcohol and that it was ruining my life. I was feeling worried about my future life and how I used to waste my weekends. My thinking about sobriety has increasingly shifted my desire to live a healthier lifestyle helped me turn my back on alcohol which I really felt was outwardly affecting my life. For instance, I realized drinking too much can influence your understanding, concentration, memory, and mood. Other short-term experiences such as accidents, falls, and conflicts also inspired me to leave the addictive behavior.

I often rely on heuristic decision-making and analytical decision-making strategies. Analytical decision-making entails examining more details before taking steps to have facts that will support a decision. The heuristic decision-making strategy entails ignoring part of the information when making decisions more frugally, quickly, and accurately. I tend to mix the two strategies since there are issues that need quick solutions, which demands only considering the most relevant aspects of the problem. At the same time, there are other long-term decisions that require in-depth research, observation, and facts to support the decision. I am at the first step of the career decision process. I am getting to know myself through identifying my values, visions, interests, skills, abilities, and traits. I believe this plays a significant role in helping me decide what I want from my next career move.