Decision-Making Parallels Between Humans And Animals

By studying the behavior of non-human animals in operant chambers, or ‘Skinner boxes’ as they’re colloquially called, scientists have been able to carefully examine the ways that animals make decisions.

It goes like this: the animal (often a rat or a pigeon) is put into the chamber and given a choice between two alternatives. Over time, the animal learns that choosing alternative A gives them X amount of food and alternative B gives them Y amount of food. By changing the amount of food each alternative gives the animal, the scientist is able to alter the choices of the animal. From the animal’s perspective, it seems like they are learning to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of each choice. For example, alternative A may give twice as much food as alternative B, but the quality of the food may be worse (cheap buffet vs fine dining).

By using the method described above, behavior analysts have studied decision-making in such a careful manner that they have even been able to develop a simple mathematical equation that can predict the choices of animals almost perfectly! The equation is called the “matching law” because their decisions have been found to match the combined advantages and disadvantages of their choices.

This equation is able to account for all of the different ways scientists have come up with for changing the qualities of the two choices (and scientists can get pretty creative when it comes to their research). This includes amount of food, quality of food, delay to food, and much more.

While the matching law has been shown to predict the decisions of animals, it’s reasonable to question whether it is also able to account for the choices people make every day. Further research, both experimental and archival, has found that the matching law does, in fact, describe human decision-making accurately!

Research in this area is abundant, with examples as simple as choosing between varieties of snacks to more complex decision-making in sports. Children tend to work on class assignments harder and longer when they receive preferred treats as rewards. College students will pay more attention during class discussions when conversing with someone who makes frequent statements of agreement with them.

In the realm of sports, the proportion of 2- vs 3-point shots attempted by college and NBA basketball players matches the success rates of those shots. Additionally, college football coaches call for rushing and passing plays according to the average yards gained by those calls. In those instances, and many others, the matching law was able to accurately describe the decisions of people.

Humans and animals are continually making choices throughout their lives, and these choices are often made in chaotic and dynamic environments. However, behavior analytic research can take place in a tightly-controlled laboratory environment with animals making relatively simpler decisions. Even with the potential limitations of animal research, studies have shown that the decision-making process of animals is very similar to that of humans. Over time, all animals (humans and non-humans alike) weigh the advantages and disadvantages of their choices and behave accordingly.  While human social situations are definitely more complicated, scientists will pursue more research on this important topic and continue to find similarities between human and animal decision-making.