I am a decision scientist and every day I get to look for clues, but not fingerprints or evidence of a crime, I get to look at the things that people use to guide the decisions that they make.
Every day we make decisions, like what to wear to school, or eat for breakfast and while these decisions are made by others while we are young, we learn to make them by ourselves as we grow up. Some decisions we make are guided by the laws and rules, but some are guided by our family, friends, other kids at school and sometimes by the things that we see online. While most decisions don’t really matter, like Coke or Pepsi, some decisions can really make a difference to our life and others around us.
This year I am looking at people’s decision making in video gaming and what motivates their decisions while they game. Through my studies in psychological science I hope to help people use good information to make better decisions that will help them live healthy, longer lives. One day I hope to become a psychologist. They are some of the people that you can talk to when you have a problem, they listen to you and help you to work out what to do. In my studies I have learnt a lot about the brain, how it works, how it can go wrong and how we can help it work better. I have also learnt a lot about how the brain helps us make decisions and how we are influenced by the people and advertising around us. In the future I hope to be able to use what I have learnt to be able to help people make good decisions.
