Jackson Institute for Global Affairs

Courage in Theory & Practice

Roz Savage

–Napoleon Bonaparte (via Sara)

“Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide.”

Week 6: Courageous Decision-Making

❖ Circumstance:❖ Reactive decisions❖ Proactive decisions

❖ Degree of Responsibility:❖ Free will❖ Conditioned response❖ Fatalism

❖ Morality:❖ Moral energy❖ Moral apathy

❖ Social Situation:❖ Individual❖ Collaborative

Courageous Decision-MakingProactive Decisions

Reactive Decisions

MoralEnergy

MoralApathy

COURAGE

INTEGRITYEXPEDIENCY

GUNG-HO Free Will

Conditioned

Response

Fatalism

Courageous Decision-Making

❖ Circumstance:❖ Reactive decisions❖ Proactive decisions

❖ Degree of Responsibility:❖ Free will❖ Conditioned response❖ Fatalism

❖ Morality:❖ Moral energy❖ Moral apathy

❖ Social Situation:❖ Individual❖ Collaborative

Proactive vs Reactive Decisions

Reactive Decisions

❖ Ethical dilemmas (right vs right):❖ Truth vs loyalty❖ Individual vs community❖ Short-term vs long-term❖ Justice vs mercy

Can we predict which will take precedence?

Ways to Break an Ethical Dilemma

❖ Ends-based thinking (utilitarianism, teleological)❖ Greatest good to the greatest number (over the

greatest period of time)❖ Rule-based thinking (Kantian, deontological)

❖ If everybody acted as I am about to act, would that serve the greatest good?

❖ Care-based thinking❖ Do unto others as you would have them do unto

you

Kidder, Rushworth

Was Kidder’s analysis helpful?

Proactive Decisions

Lifetime

Achi

e vem

ent

Courageous life

Average life

Proactive Decisions

Lifetime

Achi

e vem

ent

Inspired by Punctuated Equilibrium, Bryan Jones

SituationalInternal

Courageous life

Which comes first - courage or situation?

Generating Options

We may not have free will, but we have free won’t

When Inspiration Strikes

Questions (from Week 4)❖ Can I do this task? (self-efficacy)❖ Do I want to do this task? (emotional)❖ Why would I want to do this task? (cognitive -

values, purpose)❖ Is this choice likely to arise again? (identity)❖ What is the meaning of undertaking this task?

(worldview, significance, self-transcendence)

BOGUS QUESTION

Courageous Decision-Making

❖ Circumstance:❖ Reactive decisions❖ Proactive decisions

❖ Degree of Responsibility:❖ Free will❖ Conditioned response❖ Fatalism

❖ Morality:❖ Moral energy❖ Moral apathy

❖ Social Situation:❖ Individual❖ Collaborative

–Albert Camus

“Life is the sum of all your choices.”

Are your choices also the sum of all your life?

What factors do we take into account when making

decisions?

Thinking Traps

Anchoring

Status Quo (don’t rock the boat)

Sunk Cost

Bounded RationalityTractability

Cogn

itive

Limita

tions Time

Available

(Herbert Simon)

Open Plane = Free Will (achievable?)

Plateaux = Conditioned Response

(Dan Siegel)

Field Theory

B = f(LS) = f(P,E)B = Behaviour LS = Life Space

(aka PsychologicalField)

P = Person (needs, beliefs, values, abilities)

E = Environment

(Kurt Lewin)

Courageous Decision-Making

❖ Circumstance:❖ Reactive decisions❖ Proactive decisions

❖ Degree of Responsibility:❖ Free will❖ Conditioned response❖ Fatalism

❖ Morality:❖ Moral energy❖ Moral apathy

❖ Social Situation:❖ Individual❖ Collaborative

We All Have Boundaries❖ Maximum and minimum ideals around:

❖ Food intake❖ Exercise❖ Sleep❖ Working/studying hours❖ Alcohol (etc)

❖ Should we also have a max and min around courage?

Exoskeleton = Boundaries = Laws?

Backbone = Support = Inner Morality?

Exoskeleton vs Spine

Exoskeleton vs Spine

Analyse Your Decision-Making

1. what is the question I am trying to answer? (reframing)

2. assumptions

3. recent factors influencing mindset

4. decision-making centre (head/heart/gut, or intuition/intellect)

5. relevant values

6. similar decision likely to arise again (identity)

7. information available

8. time constraints

9. advisors/stakeholders consulted, why you chose them, what they said

10.risks and fears currently perceived

11.best case scenario as currently perceived

12.worst case scenario as currently perceived (including opportunity cost)

13.final decision

14.date to review your decision, how to evaluate success

Emergency Reactive Decision Making

❖ Strengths❖ Weaknesses❖ Opportunities❖ Threats

–Peter Senge

“People with high levels of personal mastery… cannot afford to choose between reason and

intuition, or head and heart, any more than they would choose to walk on one leg or see with one

eye.”

Would we ever want to delegate decision-making to AI?

(ref driverless cars)

Courageous Decision-Making

❖ Circumstance:❖ Reactive decisions❖ Proactive decisions

❖ Degree of Responsibility:❖ Free will❖ Conditioned response❖ Fatalism

❖ Morality:❖ Moral energy❖ Moral apathy

❖ Social Situation:❖ Individual❖ Collaborative

–Margaret Thatcher to George H. W. Bush, when Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990

“Remember, George, this is no time to go wobbly.”

–Denholm Elliott

“Surprise yourself every day with your own courage.”