Environment
“I can always choose, but I ought to know that if I do not choose, I am still choosing.” ― Jean-Paul Sartre, Existentialism and Human Emotions
Decision-making problem from a decision-maker point of view can be defined as an evaluation of an environment that restricts possible courses of action and determines the outcomes. While the idea seems to be rather intuitive, there is a catch.
Let’s consider a simple decision problem: Freya drives down the street and reaches three-way-intersection.
What are the possible decisions? From a first look, two options are obvious - (1) turn left and (2) right. Those who studied “out-of-the-box” thinking probably see at least two more - (3) take a U-turn or (4) stop where she is. Now if you don’t like boxes at all, there are many other possibilities, such as (5) pressing the accelerator and driving into a road-sign in front, (6) driving into a lawn full of poppies on the right or (7) forest on the left and even (8) going up into the sky (she is a goddess after all).
Here it is worth lingering a bit on the option eight. Many might consider it is not a true possibility. However, note, there is nothing in the environment that would restrict Freya from making this decision and taking an action that she believes would make her car fly. The environment would only determine the outcome of this action.