Published on August 21, 2012
There has been so much research done in neuroscience in the past fifteen years that experts have a much better understanding of how the brain functions when it comes to decision making – even as it relates to growing a quality culture. Years ago we believed that information coming into the brain was automatically handled in the prefrontal cortex, or logical, complex thinking area of the brain. We now know that it’s the limbic system, the emotional center deep in the primitive area of the brain, that first processes information. Within the limbic system is the basal ganglia, which MIT researchers identified in the early 1990s as being integral to determining our decision-making behavior. Charles Duhigg suggests in his recent book, The Power of Habits, Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business, that much of what we do throughout the day is based on habit, not cognitive thought. The habit response is formed in the basal ganglia based on what Duhigg describes as a “cue-routine-reward” cycle that repeats based on our cravings to receive the reward. As humans our strongest need is for consistency.
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