How to make the right decisions under pressure - BBC Worklife

Emma and Nathan were recently interviewed for a BBC Worklife article on decision making. The article was focused on the challenge of making difficult decisions in the context of covid-19 but the concepts discussed are equally relevant to other high pressure and high stake environments. Emma and Nathan share some of their insights from studies of people in extreme and dangerous environments.

“In stressful situations people often behave as if they’re under time pressure, even when they’re not,” says Professor Emma Barrett of The University of Manchester, who specialises in the psychology of extreme environments. Her collaborator Dr Nathan Smith agrees: “We’ve interviewed people who are experienced at coping in all sorts of extreme environments and asked them how they make decisions when a military operation goes wrong or there’s an avalanche at high altitude. Nearly all of them said that often you’ve got more time than you think – time to take a step back and just reflect for a few moments, so that your emotions aren’t driving the decision.”

You can read the full BBC Worklife article here: https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200416-how-to-make-the-right-decisions-under-pressure