Most contemporary models describing human decision-making have been developed for well-defined situations and are grounded in Western cultural norms, often failing to encapsulate the complex reality of choices in the real world. More research is necessary to address the critical gap in understanding cultural influences on decision-making.

A project from a team led by Igor Grossmann at The University of Waterloo aims to explore how different cultures and religious groups approach situations where past experience may not be directly applicable, and “ready-made” solutions may not be available. The team will investigate how people from various cultures demonstrate wisdom (i.e., what most members of a society would consider beneficial for a particular challenge) in their decision-making in these complex contexts, and how their decision-making strategies shift as situations change.

For this project, work will be carried out in Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Ghana, Hong Kong (SAR), Kazakhstan, Poland, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, India, and Sri Lanka. The team will conduct a number of experiments, utilizing a multi-methodological approach that combines surveys, natural language processing (NLP), computational modeling, psychometric studies, and cross-cultural experiments. By analyzing text data and survey responses from a range of cultures, the team will categorize the most prevalent decision-making strategies in a range of situations. The efficacy of these strategies will be further tested through agent-based modeling. They will also develop psychometric tools to assess individual knowledge and use of wise strategies in various aspects of people’s lives. Finally, the project will involve culturally-grounded experiments to investigate techniques promoting calibration in application of wise strategies for various aspects of one’s life.

Ultimately, this comprehensive approach could provide an inclusive understanding of wise decision-making beyond Western models and could pave the way for a more encompassing model of decision-making that mirrors the complexity and cultural diversity of the real-world.