a guide to choice cards

8/9/2019 A Guide to Choice Cards

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Choice Cards | How to play

Each suit talks about a different aspect of choice:

Spades | Values

Choice needs to be informed by values, which provide

a moral compass. Here, weve chosen to open the

box by phrasing the values in the form of questions.

Hearts | QuotesKnowing the principles are fine, but sometimes all it

takes is a choice phrase from someone to bring the

truth home.

Clubs | Traps

Our minds sometimes act in less than rational ways.

Here are some loopholes in decision making that will

help us to understand how our mind works.

Diamonds | Methods

There is no shortage of decision making tools out

there. Heres a selection of 13 of the best.

Jokers | Wild cardsAs in traditional card decks, jokers can play the role of

any other card. We include 8 of them here, so that

decks can be customised.

Choice Cards

play your

cards right


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Youth | choice

There is research on brain development that shows that the

prefrontal cortex, which regulates impulses, risk taking, planning,

decision making, empathy and insight, is still in development among

youth. In fact, it is the last structure of the brain to stop growing,

developing until the mid-twenties.

However, this also means that youth, not having a fully mature

prefrontal cortex, may be more impulsive than adults, and perhaps

more susceptible to peer influences.

The situation | Our intervention

Unfortunately, much of the current literature on choice and decision

making is confined to 3 domains in the adult world:

1) Business: how to make better decisions to become more

profitable

2) Psychology: understanding how the human mind works

3) Social work: using tools to counsel people and guide them in

decision-making

The Choice Card project aims to distill the principles of decision

making available in these 3 fields of study, and open source them to

youth and youth workers. This is done through the creation of a deck

of customised playing cards.Features | Innovations

1) Access: Making the project downloadable means that youth and

youth workers with an Internet connection can be reached.

2) Price: The project will be delivered for free, with the cost

distributed to the end user. The deck of 60 playing cards can be

printed out as a series of 15 pieces of 5R photographs, which are

then cut into 4.

3) Portability: Youth cant always be carrying a book around to help

them make choices. Playing cards offer a possible format that

also doubles up as a game.


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Spades | Values

AIntegrityWhat would I want

other people to say

about me?

Tip: Use the What would I

like my gravestone to read

when I die? exercise

2Self WorthIs this really who I am?

Tip: Relevant for issue of

self-image and self-esteem.

3

Responsibility

Is this important,

urgent, or both?

Tip: Use a 2x2 grid of

Important / Not important &

Urgent / Not urgent to

delineate a problem.

4Courage

Whats my Dementor?

Tip: This term from the

Harry Potter books is used

to describe a persons

worst nightmare.

5Patience

Can I wait for

something better?

Tip: Emphasises the

importance of delayed

gratification.

6

Helping Others

How can helping

others help yourself?

Tip: Think of the altruistic

reasons for why people

help each other.

7Religion

Does my faith or

religion already have

the answer Im looking

for?

Tip: Most effective if both of

you share the same faith

and understand the

theology well.

8Co-operation

How can everyone

benefit from this

situation?

Tip: Also known as the

Golden Solution. Consider

using a Venn diagram to

illustrate this.

9Influence

There are 2 types of

people in life:

thermometers and

thermostats. Which

are you?

Tip: In soccer terms,

Attack is the best form of

defense.

10Purpose

What makes me come

alive?

Tip: For those who are

considering courses of

study or career paths.


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J

Honesty

Is this the truth about

me?

Tip: Emphasise being

truthful to yourself, rather

than trying to please others

with a pat answer.

QFriends / Family

Whats the most

important thing here?

Tip: Arrange a few terms in

order: friends, family,

religion, school, and so on.

KForgiveness

Is it possible to forgive

someone who has

wronged me?

Tip: Counter-intuitive, but

potentially very effective.

Possible Values wild cards

Service

Whats a small thing Icould do to make

someone I care about

happy?

Tip: Ask yourself what the

other person really wants.

Loyalty

Whos a true friend to

me?

Tip: Think of past

situations when someone

supported you when youwere down.

Love

How much do I care

about this person?

Tip: Distinguish between

true love and I love laksa

kind of love.

Respect

Do I think highly of this

person?

Tip: Distinguish

respecting someone from

liking someone. What are

that persons qualities?


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Hearts | Quotes

ANo matter how far down

the wrong road youve

gone, turn back. Turkish

proverb

Tip: Power and speed

are useless without

direction.

2Eighty percent of success

is showing up. directorWoody Allen

Tip: Its not just being

there, but being therewhen its necessary.

3

With great power, comes

great responsibility

Spider Man

Tip: One could say, the

more power one is

given, the more isexpected of that

person.

4It takes a great deal ofcourage to stand up toyour enemies, but a greatdeal more to stand up toour friends. Professor

Dumbledore

Tip: A good reminder

that friends can mean

well but still be wrong.

5Lying makes a problem

part of the future; truth

makes a problem part of

the past. - NBA coach Rick

Pitino

Tip: How will a lie come

back and haunt a

person?

6

God grant me the serenity

to accept the things I

cannot change, the

courage to change the

things I can, and the

wisdom to know the

difference. Theologian

Reinhold Niehbuhr

Tip: Separate an issue

into 2 components:

those aspects which

you have no control

over, and those that

you do, such as your

attitude to a situation.

7The ultimate measure of a

man is not where he

stands in moments of

comfort and convenience,

but where he stands at

times of challenge and

controversy. Martin

Luther King Jr

Tip: As the Mindef

campaign says, What

will you fight for?

8Its our choices, Harry, that

show what we truly are, far

more than our abilities.

Dumbledore, Harry Potter

and the Chamber of

Secrets

Tip: Or as Robert de

Niro once said, Your

power is in your

choice.

9What do we live for if it is

not to make life less

difficult to each other?

George Eliot

Tip: Are we at least not

causing harm to

another person?


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10

Dont make any decisions

if you are in doubt.

Baasanjav, 16, Mongolia

Tip: So clear up all

your doubts before

committing to a

decision.

JDoing is the best way of

saying. Cuban poet,

Jos Mart

Tip: Some people like

to verbalise their

emotions but

sometimes its not

enough.

QA pessimist sees the

difficulty in every

opportunity; an optimist

sees the opportunity in

every difficulty. Winston

Churchill

Tip: The Chinese word

for crisis has the word

opportunity in it as well!

KWhen one door of

happiness closes, another

opens; but often we look

so long at the closed door

that we do not see the one

which has been opened for

us. Helen Keller

Tip: The other door is

probably behind you

turn around!

Possible Quotes wild cards

Dont make money your

goal. Instead, pursue thethings you love doing, and

then do them so well that

people cant take their eyes

off you. poet Maya

Angelou

Tip: This is about

focus, and just puttingall your effort in things

that count.

All that is necessary for thetruimph of evil is for good

men to do nothing.

Edmund Burke

Tip: Use if you are in abystander position and

feel that its not your job

to help someone.There are 2 ways to live

your life. One is as thoughnothing is a miracle. The

other is as though

everything is a miracle.

Albert Einstein

Tip: Look at the world

with a new perspective!

The most important thing in

communication is hearingwhat isnt being said.

Peter F. Drucker,

Management Guru

Tip: Use to help

understand what isbeing implicitly said in a

situation.


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Clubs | Traps

AThe Status Quo Trap

Unwillingness to change

thought patterns that we

have used in the past in

the face of new

circumstances.

Tip: An example would

be sticking with the

same group of friends

just because they live

nearby and not

because theyre good

friends.

2The Confirming-

Evidence Trap

We tend to be willing to

gather facts that support

certain conclusions but

disregard other facts that

support different

conclusions.

Tip: When we judge

people, we tend to rely

on a few bits of

information in order to

make up our mind.

3

Groupthink

When individuals

intentionally conform to

what they perceive to be

the group consensus, they

make bad decisions which

would individually be

considered unwise.

Tip: Also known as

peer pressure.

Sometimes we think

that something is safer

just because all our

friends are also doing it.

4

InformationCascadesWhen people do not make

decisions based on theirown information andexperience, and insteadsimply copy other peoplesdecisions, assuming thatsomeone else hascarefully studied the issuesat hand.

Tip: This is useful when

the decision is low-cost,

such as ordering food,

but has serious

consequences when

applied to a choice of

school or course.

5Tyranny of choice

As the number of choiceskeeps growing, negativesaspects of having amultitude begin to appear.Clinging tenaciously to allthe choices available to uscontributes to baddecisions, anxiety andstress.

Tip: Keeping your

options open is viable

up to a certain point

the number of choices

needs to be trimmed to

avoid psychological

burden.

6An Ace of Success

The risks of myopic vision

are heightened when a

solution suddenly appears

after a long and arduous

search.

Tip: Sometimes people

are willing to go with

any solution if theyve

been searching for a

few hours, even if its

less than optimal.

7The Anchoring Trap

Decisions are unduly

influenced by initial

information that shapes

our view of subsequent

information.

Tip: First impressions

count, but we need to

give people a second

chance.


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8

Vividness effect

We tend to give more

weight to events which aremore concrete and vivid,

than those which are more

intangible and ambiguous.

Tip: Which is why we

remember plane

crashes and terrorists

attacks better, even

though hundreds of

thousands may die of

diarrhoea.

9

The prudence trap

When faced with high

stakes decisions, we tend

to adjust our estimates or

forecasts just to be on the

safe side.

Tip: If 3 consecutive

people under-estimated

the probability of an

event, the estimate will

be far off.

10

Incrementalism

Small maneuver withoutany grand plan or sense of

ultimate purpose.

Tip: If a major sacrifice

is needed in order to

accomplish something,

a little bravery is

needed.

J

Law of diminishing

marginal utility

Although the payoff mightbe double, psychologically,

you wont feel twice as

good with $200 in your

pocket as you would with

$100. Youll feel about 1.7

times as good.

Tip: Which is why

Singaporeans are so

kiasu and less

entrepreneurial.

Q

Role fulfillment

We conform to the

decision makingexpectations that others

have of someone in our

position.

Tip: Because people

expect us to be stupid,

we make stupid

decisions even though

we know better.

K

The Sunk Cost Trap

Sunk costs are old

investments of time ormoney that are now

irrecoverable.

Tip: If youre 3 years

into a 4-year course

which is absolutely

wrong for you, should

you continue?


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Possible Traps wild cards

Illusion of control

We tend to under-estimate future

uncertainty because we

tend to believe we have

more control over events

than we really do.

Tip: Its about recognising

that there are certainthings beyond our control.

Recent event trapWe tend to place more

attention on more recent

information and either

ignore or forget more

distant information.

Tip: If a peaceful countrysuddenly gets bombed,

that doesnt mean that the

entire country is unsafe.

Repetition bias

A willingness to believe

what we have been told

most often and by the

greatest number of

different of sources.

Tip: People once believed

that the Earth was at the

centre of the universe, for

example.

Ascription of

causality

We tend to ascribe

causation even when the

evidence only suggests

correlation.

Tip: We tend to attribute

our success to our abilities

and talents, but we

attribute our failures to

bad luck and external

factors.

Inconsistency

The unwillingness to

apply the same decisioncriteria in similar

situations.

Tip: Its always good to

revisit decision previously

made.

Source credibility

bias

We reject something if

we have a bias against

the person or group. We

are inclined to accept a

statement by someone

we like.

Tip: Us Do we apply

double standards for

those we like and those

we dont?

Buyers remorse

If only I had gone to one

more store. Its hard to

go through life regretting

every decision you make

because it might not have

been the best possible.

Tip: Here, its interesting

to understand how a

person shops, and their

decision processes when

doing so.

Faulty

generalisations

In order to simplify an

extremely complex world,

we tend to group things

and people.

Tip: These simplifying

generalisations can bias

decision making

processes.


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Diamonds | Methods

ADecision TreeStarting from the left of a large

piece of paper, draw out lines

towards the right for each

possible solution, giving each

solution a probabililty.

Tip: Its amazinghow graphically

illustrating the

options that are

available clarifies

thinking.

2Pareto Analysis

Based on the 80-20 Pareto

principle, that 80% of the

problems are caused by 20%

of the possible factors.

Tip: When damage

control is the only

possible action.

Tackle the change

that will give you

the biggest benefit

first.

3Make your decisions

non-reversible

The very option of being

allowed to change our minds

seems to increase the chances

that we will.

Tip: Marriage is a

good example of a

choice that should

be made non-

reversible.

4Choosing Variety

Decision makers make

suboptimal choices simply for

the sake of variety.

Tip: Useful for less

important

decisions, like your

daily meals!

5

Satisfice More and

Maximise Less

Learning to accept good

enough will simplify decisions

making and increase

satisfaction.

Tip: We should

learn to view limits

on possibilities we

face as liberating

and not

constraining.

6

Six Thinking Hats

White Hat: focus on the data

available.Red Hat: use intuition, gut

reaction, and emotion.

Black Hat: look at a situation

cautiously and defensively.

Yellow Hat: think positively.

Green Hat: develop creativesolutions.

Blue Hat: process control.

Tip: Created by

Edward de Bono.

Read his book, Six

Thinking Hats, for

more.

7Consequences Table

Create an empty matrix, and

list your objectives down the

left side of the box, and yoursolutions along the top.

Tip: If 2 solutions

are equal in 1 area,

while 1 solution

surpasses the otherin all other areas,

then a solution is

removed.


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8

Hedging bets

The less investors know about

a specific company, the wiser it

is to spread their investments

among several stocks.

Tip: Diversifying

risk improves our

long-term security

in most situations.

9Plus, Minus and

Interesting

Draw up a table. 'Plus column:

positive results of taking the

action. Minus column: negative

effects. Interesting column:

possible outcomes of taking

the action.

Tip: An

improvement to the

'weighing pros and

cons' technique.

102nd Order Decisions

If you adopt the rule that you

will never cheat on your

partner, you will eliminate

countless painful and tempting

decisions that might confront

you later on.

Tip: This is about

choosing when to

choose.

JFishbowl

Have one of your members or

a friend to stand outside the

decision-making process, to

observe and critique how the

decision was made.

Tip: Friends can

provide a more

objective

counterpoint to

your decision-

making process.

Q

Intuitive decision

making

The sense of revelation at theobvious when your conscious

mind finally learns something

that your subconscious mind

already knew.

Tip: This method is

used by people

who are already

experts in a given

field, and need to

make decisions

quickly.

K

Mixed scanning

Mixture of shallow and deep

examination of data,

generalised consideration of a

broad range of facts and

choices followed by detailed

examination of a focused

subset of facts and choices.

Tip: This technique

is used by doctorfor quick diagnosis

of medical

problems, and to

test their

hypotheses.


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Possible Methods wild cards

Practice an Attitude

of GratitudeWe can vastly improve our

subjective experience by

consciously striving to be

grateful more often for what

is good about a choice or

experience.

Tip: Sometimes we

dont need to have

the best that life can

offer.

The Delphi Method

A systematic, interactive

forecasting method.

Selected experts answer

questionnaires in two or

more rounds. After each

round, a facilitator provides

an anonymous summary of

the experts forecasts as

well as the reasons they

provided for their

judgments. Participants are

encouraged to revise their

earlier answers in light of

the replies of other

members.

Tip: This is for when

you get three experts

together, and find

that you'll often end

up with several

different opinions. Itis believed that

during this process

the range of the

answers will

decrease and the

group will convergetowards the "correct"

answer.

Decision staggering

Allows you to see a partial

result of your intervention

under conditions similar

those in which the rest of

the intervention, if

necessary, will take place.

Tip: Use when the

results of such a

solution are

unknown.

Think About the

Opportunity CostsUnless youre truly

dissatisfied, stick with what

you always buy. Dont be

tempted by new and

improved.

Tip: Dont scratch

unless theres an itch.

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