{
  "title": "Explaining a choice: what reasons given afterwards do not prove",
  "url": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/expliquer-un-choix-ce-que-les-raisons-apres-coup-ne-prouvent-pas-en",
  "language": "en",
  "datePublished": "2025-10-11",
  "publisher": {
    "name": "SHR — Swiss Human Resources",
    "url": "https://www.shr.swiss",
    "address": "Esplanade de Pont-Rouge 9A, 1212 Lancy, Suisse"
  },
  "summary": "A convincing explanation does not necessarily describe what produced a decision. Research suggests distinguishing reasons stated after a choice from criteria recorded beforehand.",
  "section": "Research",
  "topic": "Decision-making",
  "place": {
    "name": "Sion",
    "region": "Valais",
    "country": "CH"
  },
  "keyPoints": [
    {
      "heading": "What the literature establishes",
      "point": "Richard E."
    },
    {
      "heading": "An explanation can follow a choice that was not one's own",
      "point": "Petter Johansson, Lars Hall, Sverker Sikström and Andreas Olsson (2005, Science) ask participants to choose between photographs of faces and then explain some of their choices."
    },
    {
      "heading": "The premature conclusion",
      "point": "It would be excessive to conclude that decision-makers systematically invent their reasons."
    },
    {
      "heading": "What the evidence does not allow us to transfer",
      "point": "Choosing between faces does not reproduce either a hydropower investment or a decision about the organisation of healthcare."
    },
    {
      "heading": "A practical check in Sion",
      "point": "Within SHR's « Prise de décision » programme, an exercise in Sion could address a non-clinical healthcare decision, hydropower maintenance, vineyard equipment or a purchase for alpine tourism."
    }
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "authors": "Wilson",
      "year": "1977",
      "source": "Psychological Review"
    },
    {
      "authors": "Olsson",
      "year": "2005",
      "source": "Science"
    }
  ],
  "wordCount": 389,
  "image": "https://www.shr.swiss/img/blog-Training-Decision-Making-Sion-expliquer-un-choix-ce-que-les-raisons-apres-coup-ne-prouvent-pas-en.jpg?v=4",
  "translations": {
    "fr": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/expliquer-un-choix-ce-que-les-raisons-apres-coup-ne-prouvent-pas",
    "en": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/expliquer-un-choix-ce-que-les-raisons-apres-coup-ne-prouvent-pas-en",
    "de": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/expliquer-un-choix-ce-que-les-raisons-apres-coup-ne-prouvent-pas-de",
    "it": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/expliquer-un-choix-ce-que-les-raisons-apres-coup-ne-prouvent-pas-it"
  },
  "relatedPages": {
    "programme": "https://www.shr.swiss/formation/prise-de-decision/sion",
    "city": "https://www.shr.swiss/formations-ville/sion",
    "blog": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog"
  },
  "citationPolicy": "Citation autorisée avec mention « SHR — Swiss Human Resources » et lien vers l'article."
}