An optimal decision is a decision that leads to at least as good a known or expected outcome as all other available decision options. It is an important concept in decision theory. So, by deduction, a suboptimal outcome wouldn’t be “lesser than” an optimal outcome – but Dr. Perrodin questions the long-held belief that suboptimal outcomes are mistakes. SUBOPTIMAL DECISIONS CAN BE BRILLIANT. We need to understand how this conflates with decision making, as when we are talking about suboptimal outcomes, we are also recognizing that suboptimal decisions were made to arrive that suboptimal outcomes. This infers that the decision-making process could be tuned, and perhaps that is true, but perhaps the suboptimal decisions were quite brilliant in the presented context and situation. Remember, all decisions are laminated to time, context and situation. Any study will frame sub-optimal choice from the deficit perspective. Whether it is the “paradox” of suboptimal choice or solving the problem of suboptimal choice. FLAWED THINKING. Dr. Perrodin argues that the way suboptimal outcomes are portrayed primes people for a single, convergent, universally-acceptable solution. In other words, the false premise that there is only one correct way to do something. MARKETING and CONSUMERISM. Advertising attempts to convince us that an optimal outcome, such as owning a functional economic vehicle, is actually a suboptimal outcome as the driver could be behind the wheel of an expensive luxury vehicle – which would deliver the identical optimal outcome of conveying him from one location to another. This myth of stacking optimal outcomes is vanity. SCHOOL SAFETY and SUBOPTIMAL OUTCOMES. Dr. Perrodin gives examples of when linear thinking and assuming there is a direct path to an optimal outcome can degrade a school safety situation. For example, if an evacuation route is blocked during a fire drill, staff and students will need to evaluate “suboptimal” alternatives that will eventually liberate them from the building. Another example would be an evacuation rally site that needs to be moved further away from the school due to circumstances that convinced responders to expand the perimeter around the incident zone. If you are unable to process suboptimal alternatives, you will be unable to incrementally move yourself toward safety. FOLLOW DR. PERRODIN: Twitter @SafetyPhD and subscribe to The Safety Doc YouTube channel & Apple Podcasts. SAFETY DOC WEBSITE & BLOG: www.safetyphd.com The Safety Doc Podcast is hosted & produced by David Perrodin, PhD. ENDORSEMENTS. Opinions are those of the host & guests and do not reflect positions of The 405 Media or supporters of “The Safety Doc Podcast”. The show adheres to nondiscrimination principles while seeking to bring forward productive discourse & debate on topics relevant to personal or institutional safety. Email David: thesafetydoc@gmail.com LOOKING FOR DR. TIMOTHY LUDWIG, PHD? Dr. Perrodin’s “Safety Doc Podcast” negotiates school and community safety. To be informed about industrial safety, please contact Appalachian State University Professor Dr. Timothy Ludwig, PhD, at www.safety-doc.com
Paying the Liar’s Dividend in School Safety
Customer Perceived Value - Putting a Price on Safe Schools
Force Majeure is the Ripcord of School Safety
What Common Rule Means for School Safety Drills
Paris Must Learn From Citicorp Tower's Fatal Flaw
How the Notre Dame Fire Exemplified Torus Theory
Why May Should Not Be Food Allergy Month
Exempting Disabled Students from Safety Drills with Attorney James Sibley
Confirmation Bias in School Safety
Why the Sidelines of School Safety Are a Tragic Act of Kindness
Have We Crossed the Uncanny Valley? The Implications of Avatar Realism.
Giles Rhys Jones Interview | Addressing the World
75% of the World Doesn't Have an Address
Temporary Autonomous Zones, Burning Man and Slab City
Positive Recency, Monte Carlo Fallacy and School Safety
Law of Subtraction - Will it Solve School Safety?
Wealth Shaming In Schools
The Zen of Stacking Firewood
Interview with an Unwitcher | Paranormal Researcher Ileata Kenley
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Navigating Life After 40
Teaching Learning Leading K-12
Regenerative Skills
The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast
The Mel Robbins Podcast