IELTS Reading Practice: Decision, Decision (Vocabulary & Answer Key)

In IELTS Reading tests, topics related to behavioral psychology and decision-making are as fascinating as they are challenging due to their abstract nature. The passage regarding the contrast between deliberate, calculated decisions and unconscious ones is a classic example, requiring test-takers to possess a strong grasp of academic vocabulary to fully understand the conflicting arguments presented.

In this article, in collaboration with ECE Language Center, you will be fully equipped with the reading passage, a precise bilingual translation, a list of “high-value” vocabulary, and an in-depth analysis of the answers.

Reading Passage & Questions

Reading Passage: Decision, Decision

Paragraph A

A widely recognised legend tells us that in Gordium (in what is now Turkey) in the fourth century BC an oxcart was roped to a pole with a complex knot. It was said that the first person to untie it would become the king of Asia. Unfortunately, the knot proved impossible to untie. The story continues that when confronted with this problem, rather than deliberating on how to untie the Gordian knot, Alexander, the famous ruler of the Greeks in the ancient world, simply took out his sword and cut it in two – then went on to conquer Asia. Ever since the notion of a ‘Gordian solution’ has referred to the attractiveness of a simple answer to an otherwise intractable problem.

Paragraph B

Among researchers in the psychology of decision making, however, such solutions have traditionally held little appeal. In particular, the ‘conflict model’ of decision making proposed by psychologists Irving Janis and Leon Mann in their 1977 book, Decision Making, argued that a complex decision-making process is essential for guarding individuals and groups from the peril of ‘group-think’. Decisions made without thorough canvassing, surveying, weighing, examining and reexamining relevant information and options would be suboptimal and often disastrous. One foreign affair decision made by a well-known US political leader in the 1960s is typically held up as an example of the perils of inadequate thought, whereas his successful handling of a water crisis is cited as an example of the advantages of careful deliberation. However, examination of these historical events by Peter Suedfield, a psychologist at the University of British Columbia, and Roderick Kramer, a psychologist at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, found little difference in the two decision-making processes; both crises required and received complex consideration by the political administration, but later only the second one was deemed to be the effective.

Paragraph C

In general, however, organizational and political science offers little evidence that complex decisions fare better than simpler ones. In fact, a growing body of work suggests that in many situations simply ‘snap’ decisions are routinely superior to more complex ones – an idea that gained widespread public appeal with Malcolm Gladwell’s best-selling book Blink (2005).

Paragraph D

An article by Ap Dijksterhuis of the University of Amsterdam and his colleagues, ‘Making the Right Choice: the Deliberation-without-attention Effect’, runs very much in the spirit of Gladwell’s influential text. Its core argument is that to be effective, conscious (deliberative) decision making requires cognitive resources. Because increasingly complex decisions place increasing strain on those resources, the quality of our decisions declines as their complexity increases. In short, complex decisions overrun our cognitive powers. On the other hand, unconscious decision making (what the authors refer to as ‘deliberation without attention’) requires no cognitive resources, so task complexity does not affect effectiveness. The seemingly counterintuitive conclusion is that although conscious thought enhances simple decisions, the opposite holds true for more complex decisions.

Paragraph E

Dijksterhuis reports four simple but elegant studies supporting this argument. In one, participants assessed the quality of four hypothetical cars by considering either four attributes (a simple task) or 12 attributes (a complex task). Among participants who considered four attributes, those who were allowed to engage in undistracted deliberative thought did better at discriminating between the best and worst cars. Those who were distracted and thus unable to deliberate had to rely on their unconscious thinking and did less well. The opposite pattern emerged when people considered 12 criteria. In this case, conscious deliberation led to inferior discrimination and poor decisions.

Paragraph F

In other studies, Dijksterhuis surveyed people shopping for clothes (‘simple’ products) and furniture (‘complex’ products). Compared with those who said they had deliberated long and hard, shoppers who bought with little conscious deliberation felt less happy with their simple clothing purchase but happier with the complex furniture purchases. Deliberation without attention actually produced better results as the decisions became more complex.

Paragraph G

From there, however, the researchers take a big leap. They write: There is no reason to assume that the deliberation-without-attention effect does not generalize to other types of choices – political, managerial or otherwise. In such cases, it should benefit the individual to think consciously about simple matters and to delegate thinking about more complicated matters to the unconscious.

Paragraph H

This radical inference contradicts standard political and managerial theory but doubtless comforts those in politics and management who always find the simple solution to the complex problem an attractive proposition. Indeed, one suspects many of our political leaders already embrace this wisdom.

Paragraph I

Still, it is there, in the realms of society and its governance, that the more problematic implications of deliberation without attention begin to surface. Variables that can be neatly circumscribed in decisions about shopping lose clarity in a world of group dynamics, social interaction, history and politics. Two pertinent questions arise. First, what counts as a complex decision? And second, what counts as a good outcome?

Paragraph J

As social psychologist Kurt Lewin (1890 – 1947) noted, a ‘good’ decision that nobody respects is actually bad; his classic studies of decision making showed that participating in deliberative processes makes people more likely to abide by the results. The issue here is that when political decision-makers make mistakes, it is their politics, or the relationship between their politics and our own, rather than psychology which is at fault.

Paragraph K

Gladwell’s book and Dijksterhuis’s paper are invaluable in pointing out the limitations of the conventional wisdom that decision quality rises with decision-making complexity. But this work still tempts us to believe that decision making is simply a matter of psychology, rather than also a question of politics, ideology and group membership. Avoiding social considerations in a search for general appeal is a step away from reality rather than toward it.

Questions

Questions 1-5

Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D. Write your answers in boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet.

1. The legend of the Gordian knot is used to illustrate the idea that

A. anyone can solve a difficult problem

B. difficult problems can have easy solutions

C. the solution to any problem requires a lot of thought

D. people who can solve complex problems make good leaders

2. The ‘conflict model’ of decision making proposed by Janis and Mann requires that

A. opposing political parties be involved

B. all-important facts be considered

C. people be encouraged to have different ideas

D. previous similar situations be thoroughly examined

3. According to recent thinking reinforced by Malcolm Gladwell, the best decisions

A. involve consultation

B. involve complex thought

C. are made very quickly

D. are the most attractive option

4. Dijksterhuis and his colleagues claim in their article that

A. our cognitive resources improve as tasks become more complex

B. conscious decision making is negatively affected by task complexity

C. unconscious decision making is a popular approach

D. deliberation without attention defines the way we make decisions

5. Dijksterhuis’s car study found that, in simple tasks, participants

A. were involved in lengthy discussions

B. found it impossible to make decisions quickly

C. were unable to differentiate between the options

D. could make a better choice when allowed to concentrate

Questions 6-9

Complete the summary using the list of words A-I below. Write the correct letter, A-I, in boxes 6-9 on your answer sheet.

Dijksterhuis’s shopping study and its conclusions

Using clothing and furniture as examples of different types of purchases, Dijksterhuis questioned shoppers on their satisfaction with what they had bought. People who spent 6 …………… time buying simple clothing items were more satisfied than those who had not. However, when buying furniture, shoppers made 7 ………….. purchasing decisions if they didn’t think too hard. From this, the researchers concluded that in other choices, perhaps more important than shopping, 8………………. decisions are best made by the unconscious. The writer comments that Dijksterhuis’s finding is apparently 9 ……………….. but nonetheless true.

A. more

B. counterintuitive

C. simple

D. better

E. conscious

F. obvious

G. complex

H. less

I. worse

Questions 10-14

Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer in Reading Passage? In boxes 10-14 on your answer sheet, write:

• YES if the statement agrees with the views of the writer

• NO if the statement contradicts the views of the writer

• NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this

10. Dijksterhuis’s findings agree with existing political and management theories.

11. Some political leaders seem to use deliberation without attention when making complex decisions.

12. All political decisions are complex ones.

13. We judge political errors according to our own political beliefs.

14. Social considerations must be taken into account for any examination of decision making to prove useful.

Summary of the Reading Passage

The passage discusses various approaches to decision-making:

• Paragraph A: Introduces the legend of the Gordian knot to illustrate the appeal of simple solutions to complex problems (the “Gordian solution”).

• Paragraph B: Presents the “conflict model” by Janis and Mann, arguing that complex decisions require careful deliberation to avoid the risks of “group-think.”

• Paragraph C: However, organizational science suggests that complex decisions are not necessarily superior. Malcolm Gladwell (in his book Blink) supports the idea that “snap decisions” are often better.

• Paragraph D: Ap Dijksterhuis’s research supports this view, arguing that conscious thought is effective for simple tasks, while unconscious thought is more effective for complex ones as it is not limited by cognitive resources.

• Paragraph E & F: Dijksterhuis’s studies (on cars, clothing, and furniture) demonstrate that careful deliberation is good for simple tasks (clothing), but less deliberation is better for complex ones (furniture).

• Paragraph G & H: The researchers generalize these findings to politics and management, even though this contradicts traditional theory.

• Paragraph I, J, K: The author highlights the limitations of applying this theory to politics/society (e.g., the need for social consensus, ideological factors), warning against viewing decision-making solely as a matter of psychology.

Key Vocabulary Summary

Grammar Structures

• Double Comparatives: The quality of our decisions declines as their complexity increases.

• Contrast structures (whereas/although): …whereas his successful handling of a water crisis is cited as an example…

Answers & Detailed Explanations

1. B

• Question: The legend of the Gordian knot is used to illustrate the idea that…

• Location: Paragraph A: “Ever since the notion of a ‘Gordian solution’ has referred to the attractiveness of a simple answer to an otherwise intractable problem.”

• Explanation: The concept of a “Gordian solution” refers to the appeal of a simple answer to a difficult problem. This matches the idea that difficult problems can have easy solutions.

2. B

• Question: The ‘conflict model’ of decision making proposed by Janis and Mann requires that…

• Location: Paragraph B: “Decisions made without thorough canvassing… relevant information and options would be suboptimal…”

• Explanation: Decisions need to be considered thoroughly (thorough canvassing, weighing relevant information). This means all-important facts must be considered.

3. C

• Question: According to recent thinking reinforced by Malcolm Gladwell, the best decisions…

• Location: Paragraph C: “…simply ‘snap’ decisions are routinely superior to more complex ones…”

• Explanation: “Snap decisions” are those made very quickly.

4. B

• Question: Dijksterhuis and his colleagues claim in their article that…

• Location: Paragraph D: “…the quality of our decisions declines as their complexity increases.”

• Explanation: Decision quality drops as complexity rises, meaning conscious decision-making is negatively affected by task complexity.

5. D

• Question: Dijksterhuis’s car study found that, in simple tasks, participants…

• Location: Paragraph E: “Among participants who considered four attributes… those who were allowed to engage in undistracted deliberative thought did better…”

• Explanation: With simple tasks (4 attributes), those allowed to concentrate (undistracted deliberative thought) made better choices.

6. A (more)

• Location: Paragraph F: “Compared with those who said they had deliberated long and hard, shoppers who bought with little conscious deliberation felt less happy with their simple clothing purchase…”

• Explanation: Those who bought with little deliberation were less happy. Therefore, those who spent more time (deliberated long and hard) were more satisfied.

7. D (better)

• Location: Paragraph F: “…but happier with the complex furniture purchases. Deliberation without attention actually produced better results…”

• Explanation: When buying complex furniture, those who didn’t think too hard (deliberation without attention) were happier and made better purchasing decisions.

8. G (complex)

• Location: Paragraph G: “…delegate thinking about more complicated matters to the unconscious.”

• Explanation: Researchers concluded that for important choices, complex (complicated) decisions are best left to the unconscious.

9. B (counterintuitive)

• Location: Paragraph D: “The seemingly counterintuitive conclusion is that…”

• Explanation: The author notes that this conclusion seems counterintuitive but is nonetheless true.

10. NO

• Question: Dijksterhuis’s findings agree with existing political and management theories.

• Location: Paragraph H: “This radical inference contradicts standard political and managerial theory…”

• Explanation: The passage states that this inference contradicts standard theory, not agrees with it.

11. NOT GIVEN

• Question: Some political leaders seem to use deliberation without attention when making complex decisions.

• Location: Paragraph H: “Indeed, one suspects many of our political leaders already embrace this wisdom.”

• Explanation: The author only says “one suspects,” which is a personal opinion, not a confirmed fact that they are actually using it.

12. NOT GIVEN

• Question: All political decisions are complex ones.

• Explanation: The passage discusses political decisions and complexity, but never makes the absolute claim that “all” political decisions are complex.

13. YES

• Question: We judge political errors according to our own political beliefs.

• Location: Paragraph J: “…it is their politics, or the relationship between their politics and our own… which is at fault.”

• Explanation: When politicians make mistakes, we blame their politics or the relationship between their politics and our own.

14. NOT GIVEN

• Question: Social considerations must be taken into account for any examination of decision making to prove useful.

• Location: Paragraph K: “Avoiding social considerations in a search for general appeal…”

• Explanation: The author notes that ignoring social factors is a limitation, but does not explicitly state that they “must” be included for any study to be useful.

Thank you for following this article. We hope this detailed explanation from ECE Language Center helps you resolve any questions regarding the “Decision, Decision” reading passage. Good luck with your studies!