QUANTUM MECHANICAL OVERVIEW OF HUMAN MIND? BY ABINASH .D
Quantum mechanics describes the behavior of the tiny particles
that make up all matter in the universe, namely ATOMS and their
subatomic components. One central tenet of the theory suggests a great deal of
uncertainty in this world of the very small, something not seen at larger
scales. For instance, in the big world, one can know where a train is on its
route and how fast it's traveling, and given this data, one could predict when
that train should arrive at the next station.
Now, swap out the train for an electron,
and your predictive power disappears — you can't know the exact location
and momentum of
a given electron, but you could calculate the probability that the particle may
appear in a certain spot, traveling at a particular rate. In this way, you
could gain a hazy idea of what the electron might be up to.
Just as uncertainty
pervades the subatomic world, it also seeps into our decision-making process,
whether we're debating which new series to binge-watch or casting our vote in a
presidential election. Here's where quantum mechanics comes in. Unlike
classical theories of decision-making, the quantum world makes room for a
certain degree of … uncertainty.
Classical psychology theories rest on the idea that people make
decisions in order to maximize "rewards" and minimize
"punishments" — in other words, to ensure their actions result in
more positive outcomes than negative consequences. This logic, known as
"reinforcement learning," falls in line with Pavlonian conditioning,
wherein people learn to predict the consequences of their actions based on past
experiences, according to a 2009 report in the Journal of Mathematical Psychology.
If truly constrained by this
framework, humans would consistently weigh the objective values of two options
before choosing between them. But in reality, people don't always work that
way; their subjective feelings about a situation undermine their ability to
make objective decisions.
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