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GUT FEELINGS AND POLICY DECISIONS
Author(s) -
Sellers Martin P.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
southeastern political review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1747-1346
pISSN - 0730-2177
DOI - 10.1111/j.1747-1346.1996.tb00090.x
Subject(s) - feeling , decision maker , affect (linguistics) , process (computing) , policy making , decision making , rational planning model , social psychology , positive economics , sociology , epistemology , psychology , management science , political science , economics , management , computer science , public administration , business , marketing , philosophy , communication , purchasing , operating system
Gut feelings have long played a role in decision making. Ask any policy maker about the utility and significance of personal sensitivities and gut feelings in his decisions and he will admit that to some degree, though difficult to measure, decision influences like gut feelings play a significant role in policy making. Theorists who have studied interpretive decision making such as Alfred Schultz, Chris Argyris, Peter Berger, Thomas Luckmann, Larry Kirkhart, David Silverman, Michael Harmon and others suggest that much more goes into decisions in the policy making process than the observable, overt, measurable, rational elements that rational measurement devices such as cost‐benefit analysis can evaluate. This paper will attempt to show that the interpretive approach is a well‐grounded model to use in decision making and policy analysis and will also develop a model for decision makers to use in evaluating the influences that affect their decisions and ultimately the policy making process.