The Bases, Principles, and Methods of Decision-Making: A Review of Literature

Abstract

<strong>Introduction:</strong> Decision-making, one of the most important conscious processes, is a cognitive process which ends up in choosing an action between several alternatives. The present paper studies the theoretical literature with the aim of forming an integrated concept of decision-making. <strong>Methods:</strong> In the present review, “Decision, Decision-making, types of decision-making, methods of decision-making, classification of decision-making, decision-making reinforcement, decision-making facilitation, decision-making reduction, decisionmaking deficiencies, decision-making optimization, decision-making assessment, and decision-making evaluation" were the keywords which were searched in “PubMed, ScienceDirect, Google Scholar, Google Patent, MagIran, Taylor and Francis, SID, Proquest, Ebsco, Springer, IEEE, Kolwer, & IranDoc" search engines. With respect to the relation of the study parts, academic publishes after 2000 and the relevant Jadad system sources were selected. The manuscripts then were finalized by the evaluation of five experts in decision-making studies via the Delphi method. <strong>Results:</strong> 9 definitions in 3 classes, 4 involved factors, 5 types of decision-making, processes and steps of decision-making, 11 techniques of individual and participatory decision-making, 3 groupings of steps of decision-making, 5 related theories, 7related constructs, MCDM, biopsychological bases, military decision-making, medical decision-making, and Islamic decision-making were found. <strong>Conclusion:</strong> Teaching correct ways of decision-making, appending decision-making courses to syllabi of university majors, and the development of databases in varied domains, especially in medical services, are among the effective strategies to improve decision-making and reduce the costs of decision-making mistakes.