Etymology and first fruits
The word decision comes from the Latin decider, meaning to cut or cut-off (cædere of old Latin). Aristotle equated the decision with the culmination of the deliberation, that is to say the choice between different options, to solve a problem most of the time. Beyond the philosophical discussions, the decision is also omnipresent in literary works. Life lessons concluding stories are often marked by the notion of good or bad decision.
Good or bad decision
The quality of a decision is often associated with the results: if the results of a decision are satisfactory, one will say that it was a good decision. In the jargon of decision support, the quality of a decision is not judged by the quality of the results, but rather by the quality of the decision-making process. For example, if the decision is made by the right person, if it is informed enough. Indeed, the chance factor can influence the results even when the decision is the most optimal. The decision-maker’s personality also plays an important role in decision-making that would be less understandable by others, without being bad.
How it works
The decisions take place in the head, more exactly in the part of the brain called genu (Latin meaning knee). The brain is composed of two hemispheres: one is specialized in the rational and the analytic while the other is devoted to the emotional and the instinct. The two hemispheres are connected by the corpus colosseum which frontal part constitutes the genu. Without going into neurobiochemistry, information is transfered from one neuron to another by means of neurotransmitters. The different information is then exploited by the brain to decide.