Decision

{{StatsPsy]] Entscheidung Décision

A decision is a final product of the specific mental/cognitive process of an individual or a group of persons/organizations which is called decision making, therefore it is a subjective concept. It is a mental object and can be an opinion, a rule or a task for execution/application.

More precisely speaking, a mental object D is a decision if it was obtained by a conscious choice of only one opinion or one action (from a known set called alternatives) and it is designated for an application.

Decisions can also be made by AI computer programs and autonomous robots. That what essentially influence a decision is the set of alternatives available for a decision-maker and choice criteria applied.

In different human activity domains, decision has many local meanings, for example,
 * in law,
 * a decision is the outcome of a legal case
 * a per curiam decision by a court with multiple judges
 * a landmark decision is the outcome of a case which sets a legal precedent
 * a type of European Union legislation
 * in boxing, a result arrived at by the judges
 * in professional wrestling, a decision is a means by which a wrestler scores a point against his opponent.

Remarks

 * Specially important decisions are those which have normative long-term or order/task character, and intend to influence different human communities, for example, political decisions.
 * Decision-making capacity is considered as a necessary and sufficient attribute of an intelligence, see socio-cognitive engineering.
 * Many decisions can be connected in decision trees.