Two Minds Blog

The commonly accepted model of adolescents’ and young adults’ (AYA) thinking goes like this: Adolescents don't always think clearly because their brains aren't fully developed yet. Brain development goes on through the early teens, especially in the prefrontal cortex (PFC: the part of the brain right behind the eyes), which is responsible for executive control of behavior. Because they don't have good control over their behavior yet, AYA are prone to doing risky or foolish things, which can result in negative consequences. As long as they don't mess up too badly, they will eventually outgrow the risk-taking phase and become normal, healthy, risk-averse adults. Is this model familiar? A major line of research with AYA does show that the brain continues to generate new synapses in the PFC region well into young adulthood, for instance to age 24 or later. Based on an understanding of the PFC as the seat of executive control functions in the brain, this neurologi...

How do people make decisions in times of significant stress and uncertainty, when risks are unknown, benefits are hard to specify, and time pressure forces snap judgments? This is the type of situation we face every day in the time of the coronavirus pandemic, when even going to the store or taking a walk outdoors can feel like an activity that has unknown risks. Naturalistic Decision Making (NDM) is a modern theory of behavior that aims to explain how people make effective decisions even under conditions of uncertainty, and this approach has significant intersections with Two Minds Theory (TMT). It’s important to begin our analysis by noting that NDM was not an influence in TMT’s development. Points of agreement between the theories are therefore evidence for a common understanding of the human mind, rather than a sign that TMT was derived from NDM. The primary developer of NDM, Dr. Gary Klein , describes his theory as a way to explain how people make decisions with high stak...