Effect of Stress on Decision MakingStress must be present to ensure our very being. You might wonder about the validity of this statement, but it is entirely true. Stress plays a vital role in how we make decisions (Massa et al, 2002, p. 1). “Problem solving and decision making in challenging real-world situations can be susceptible to the acute effects of stress that manifest in various ways depending on the type of decision. The negative effects of acute stress overload include attentional tunneling, loss of working memory, and restrictions in long-term memory retrieval, with simple strategies being preferred over more complicated ones. The underlying assumption is that stress can lead to mistakes, poor performance and poor decisions. However, acute stress does not necessarily always have a detrimental effect on decision making, rather stress can affect how information is processed. Some of these changes in strategy in response to stress are in fact adaptive. They reduce and select the information to attend to and process, in response to time pressure and reduced cognitive capacity” (Flin, 2004, p. 42). Flin talked a lot about stress and decision making in this small space. To have a better understanding, we will delve deeper into this essay and analyze the evidence that there is an effect of stress on thinking and decision-making. Stress can be defined in many different ways, but in relation to decision making, stress can best be defined by a scientific view that describes the brain's thinking process. When the sensory organs perceive information, they send it to the thalamus of the brain, which deals with sensory perceptions. The information is then transmitted to the cerebral cortex where the process of conscious thinking and decision-making occurs. In initiating the process of conscious thought, the cerebral cortex processes large amounts of information and judges which information can be handled automatically without our conscious awareness and which information must be consciously evaluated. At this point emotions, feelings, character traits and behavior are not part of the decision making process. Therefore, the limbic system, directly responsible for these emotions and feelings, is activated by the cerebral cortex. After the technicality of the stimulus, the stress response begins. Stress......center of paper......uth.Flin, R. (1997). Sitting on the hot chair. Leader and team for critical incident management. Klein, G. (1998). Sources of power How people make decisions. Cambridge: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Massa, P., Watkins, C., Partridge, B (2002). Decision making under stress. Available from: http://web.umr.edu/~bpart/eman313/DMUS.htm [accessed 05/16/05]Walker, K., Nayda, I.T., Turner, J. (2003b) Make-Up Your Mind -- Improve your decision-making skills. Available from: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ [accessed 05/16/04]“Thinking and Decision Making Under Stress”. Available from: http://library.thinkquest.org/C0123421/thinking.htm [accessed 05/18/04] Shambach, A. (1996) Strategic Leadership Workshop: "Strategic Decision-making in the Information Age", US Army War College, Carlisle Barracks, PennsylvaniaThompson, Leigh, L. (2001). The Mind and Heart of the Negotiator, Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall. Walker, K., Torres, N.I. and Turner, J. (2003a): Make-Up Your Mind: Improving Your Decision-Making Skills: Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville. Available from: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/HE691 [accessible 18/05/04]