Decision-making under Stress
A new review based on a research shows that acute stress affects the way the brain considers the advantages and disadvantages, causing it to focus on pleasure and ignore the possible negative (负面的) consequences of a decision.
The research suggests that stress may change the way people make choices in predictable ways.
“Stress affects how people learn,” says Professor Mara Mather. “People learn better about positive than negative outcomes under stress.”
For example, two recent studies looked at how people learned to connect images(影像) with either rewards or punishments. In one experiment, some of the participants were first stressed by having to give a speech and do difficult math problems in front of an audience; in the other, some were stressed by having to keep their hands in ice water. In both cases, the stressed participants remembered the rewarded material more accurately and the punished material less accurately than those who hadn’t gone through the stress.
This phenomenon is likely not surprising to anyone who has tried to resist eating cookies or smoking a cigarette while under stress ------at those moments, only the pleasure associated with such activities comes to mind. But the findings further suggest that stress may bring about a double effect. Not only are rewarding experiences remembered better, but negative consequences are also easily recalled.
The research also found that stress appears to affect decision-making differently in men and women. While both men and women tend to focus on rewards and less on consequences under stress, their responses to risk turn out to be different.
Men who had been stressed by the cold-water task tended to take more risks in the experiment while women responded in the opposite way. In stressful situations in which risk-taking can pay off big, men may tend to do better, when caution weighs more, however, women will win.
This tendency to slow down and become more cautious when decisions are risky might also help explain why women are less likely to become addicted than men: they may more often avoid making the risky choices that eventually harden into addiction.
25. We can learn from the passage that people under pressure tend to ______.
A. keep rewards better in their memory
B. recall consequences more effortlessly
C. make risky decisions more frequently
D. learn a subject more effectively
26. According to the research, stress affects people most probably in their ______.
A. ways of making choices B. preference for pleasure
C. tolerance of punishments D. responses to suggestions
27. The research has proved that in a stressful situation, ______.
A. women find it easier to fall into certain habits
B. men have a greater tendency to slow down
C. women focus more on outcomes
D. men are more likely to take risks
A A D
A. Profits enlarging B. Technology developing C. Education investing D. Benefits transferring E. Dominance disappearing F. A nation rising |
The following is an imaginary diary entry written by US president. This diary is part of Global Trends 2025, which was written by the US National Intelligence Council
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The
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The
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Global wealth and economic power will shift from West to East.
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The transition from old fuels to new will be slow, as will the development of new technologies that present feasible alternatives to fossil fuels or help eliminate food and water problems. All current technologies are inadequate, and new ones will probably not be commercially possible by 2025