After problem definition, the next step is to clarify your objectives. What do you really want? What do you hope for? In the terminology of decision analysis, this is the step where you try to understand the rough outlines of your utility function, as it relates to your decision problem. Without this understanding you can’t effectively compare and evaluate the alternatives.
You may have multiple objectives, and there may be some conflict between them. Don’t let that stop you from listing all of them; you’ll deal with any necessary tradeoffs in a later step. Don’t rush this step, and don’t settle for the immediate, obvious answers; figuring out what you really want is harder than you might think.
Here are some of HKR’s thoughts on tackling this step:
Objectives help you determine what information to seek. You’ll generally seek information for two reasons: (1) to suggest alternatives to consider, and (2) to help you evaluate those alternatives. Knowing your objectives tells you what information you need for purpose (2).
Often decision makers take too narrow a focus. If your list of objectives is brief and cursory, you may find after making your decision that you left out important considerations. Don’t concentrate solely on the tangible and quantitative (lifespan, income, etc.); make sure you consider the intangible and subjective also (Is this fun? Is this something I really care about?)
Don’t limit your objectives by the ease of measurement. Income may be easier to measure than happiness, but the latter is important nonetheless.
If a prospective decision sits uncomfortably in your mind, you may have overlooked an important objective. For example, suppose that you were considering taking a particular job and that it looked great according to all of your criteria: good current income, prospects for advancement, opportunities to learn and expand your skills, etc. If you still feel uneasy about it, figure out why. Does it require you to live in a location that you find unappealing? Does something about the people there or the work environment bother you? The answers to such questions will point to possible additional objectives you should include.
AKR suggest the following five-step process for eliciting your objectives:
Write down all the concerns you hope to address through your decision. Put together a wish list. Consider a great, if infeasible, alternative; what’s so great about it? Consider a terrible alternative; why is it so bad? Ask people who have faced similar situations what they considered when they made their decision—not what they chose, nor the choice they recommend for you, but what criteria and issues they considered.
Convert your concerns into succinct objectives. A short phrase consisting of an verb and an object works well, e.g., “enjoy life”, “save humanity”, “live forever”.
Separate ends from means to establish your fundamental objectives. You may have heard these discussed as instrumental values vs. terminal values; Eliezer goes into great detail on the subject here. For example, when it comes to personal objectives, money itself is usually not a fundamental objective; it is, instead, a means of obtaining other things that you really care about (e.g., food, shelter, amusement) or that themselves are means (e.g., status) to getting other things you really care about (e.g., sex). A good exercise is to take each objective and ask why you want it; take the answer and ask why you want that; and continue until you arrive at something that needs no further justification—you value it for itself. (This is similar to The 5 Whys, but aimed at discovering root values rather than root causes.) Further notes: The means objectives can stimulate ideas for alternatives to consider, and help you understand the problem better. The fundamental objectives—and only the fundamental objectives—are used to evaluate and compare alternatives.
Clarify what you mean by each objective. Ask, “what do I really mean by this?” Latch onto any fuzziness or ambiguity in the objective and resolve it. Imagine that you’re explaining your objectives to someone who’s being a bit obtuse.
Test your objectives. Compare several alternatives; does the one that comes up best, according to your stated objectives, feel like it could be better than the others? A second test is to see if your objectives would suffice to explain a prospective decision to someone else. (Imagine this person to be entirely non-judgmental so that you aren’t tempted to be less than honest about your true objectives.) If you feel that A is a better choice than B, but you can’t adequately explain why in terms of your stated objectives, then you may be missing something.
At this point you have a lot of introspection to carry out. You may find it useful to think out loud (or, more accurately, in print) with us. You don’t have to achieve perfection here, but I would urge you to carefully think through these first two steps before proceeding further. However, there may be some things that you just can’t get right on the first pass, and will only realize are important after you have proceeded further through the decision process. That’s okay; you can make this an iterative process, returning to earlier steps when necessary.
You’re right, this is going to take some time. I do think that introspection is hard, but even after reading books like Timothy Wilson’s “Strangers to Ourselves”, I find that these contrived experimental examples of people not knowing why they chose something to not be very helpful/informative when I’m trying to make everyday decisions. this comment asks the “so what?” question. How are we going to use this information about our lack of introspective power?
EDIT: I just realized that you were the one who made the comment I just linked to.
After problem definition, the next step is to clarify your objectives. What do you really want? What do you hope for? In the terminology of decision analysis, this is the step where you try to understand the rough outlines of your utility function, as it relates to your decision problem. Without this understanding you can’t effectively compare and evaluate the alternatives.
You may have multiple objectives, and there may be some conflict between them. Don’t let that stop you from listing all of them; you’ll deal with any necessary tradeoffs in a later step. Don’t rush this step, and don’t settle for the immediate, obvious answers; figuring out what you really want is harder than you might think.
Here are some of HKR’s thoughts on tackling this step:
Objectives help you determine what information to seek. You’ll generally seek information for two reasons: (1) to suggest alternatives to consider, and (2) to help you evaluate those alternatives. Knowing your objectives tells you what information you need for purpose (2).
Often decision makers take too narrow a focus. If your list of objectives is brief and cursory, you may find after making your decision that you left out important considerations. Don’t concentrate solely on the tangible and quantitative (lifespan, income, etc.); make sure you consider the intangible and subjective also (Is this fun? Is this something I really care about?)
Don’t limit your objectives by the ease of measurement. Income may be easier to measure than happiness, but the latter is important nonetheless.
If a prospective decision sits uncomfortably in your mind, you may have overlooked an important objective. For example, suppose that you were considering taking a particular job and that it looked great according to all of your criteria: good current income, prospects for advancement, opportunities to learn and expand your skills, etc. If you still feel uneasy about it, figure out why. Does it require you to live in a location that you find unappealing? Does something about the people there or the work environment bother you? The answers to such questions will point to possible additional objectives you should include.
AKR suggest the following five-step process for eliciting your objectives:
Write down all the concerns you hope to address through your decision. Put together a wish list. Consider a great, if infeasible, alternative; what’s so great about it? Consider a terrible alternative; why is it so bad? Ask people who have faced similar situations what they considered when they made their decision—not what they chose, nor the choice they recommend for you, but what criteria and issues they considered.
Convert your concerns into succinct objectives. A short phrase consisting of an verb and an object works well, e.g., “enjoy life”, “save humanity”, “live forever”.
Separate ends from means to establish your fundamental objectives. You may have heard these discussed as instrumental values vs. terminal values; Eliezer goes into great detail on the subject here. For example, when it comes to personal objectives, money itself is usually not a fundamental objective; it is, instead, a means of obtaining other things that you really care about (e.g., food, shelter, amusement) or that themselves are means (e.g., status) to getting other things you really care about (e.g., sex). A good exercise is to take each objective and ask why you want it; take the answer and ask why you want that; and continue until you arrive at something that needs no further justification—you value it for itself. (This is similar to The 5 Whys, but aimed at discovering root values rather than root causes.) Further notes: The means objectives can stimulate ideas for alternatives to consider, and help you understand the problem better. The fundamental objectives—and only the fundamental objectives—are used to evaluate and compare alternatives.
Clarify what you mean by each objective. Ask, “what do I really mean by this?” Latch onto any fuzziness or ambiguity in the objective and resolve it. Imagine that you’re explaining your objectives to someone who’s being a bit obtuse.
Test your objectives. Compare several alternatives; does the one that comes up best, according to your stated objectives, feel like it could be better than the others? A second test is to see if your objectives would suffice to explain a prospective decision to someone else. (Imagine this person to be entirely non-judgmental so that you aren’t tempted to be less than honest about your true objectives.) If you feel that A is a better choice than B, but you can’t adequately explain why in terms of your stated objectives, then you may be missing something.
At this point you have a lot of introspection to carry out. You may find it useful to think out loud (or, more accurately, in print) with us. You don’t have to achieve perfection here, but I would urge you to carefully think through these first two steps before proceeding further. However, there may be some things that you just can’t get right on the first pass, and will only realize are important after you have proceeded further through the decision process. That’s okay; you can make this an iterative process, returning to earlier steps when necessary.
You’re right, this is going to take some time. I do think that introspection is hard, but even after reading books like Timothy Wilson’s “Strangers to Ourselves”, I find that these contrived experimental examples of people not knowing why they chose something to not be very helpful/informative when I’m trying to make everyday decisions. this comment asks the “so what?” question. How are we going to use this information about our lack of introspective power?
EDIT: I just realized that you were the one who made the comment I just linked to.