Naturalistic Decision Making (NDM)

Naturalistic Decision Making (NDM) is a way of understanding how people make decisions in real-world, complex situations. Unlike textbook decision models that assume perfect information and rational analysis, NDM recognizes that professionals often face uncertainty, time pressure, and dynamic environments. It focuses on how experienced individuals rely on intuition, pattern recognition, and mental shortcuts—called heuristics—to quickly assess situations and choose effective actions. NDM emphasizes that good decision-making in practice is shaped by expertise, context, and real-time judgment rather than purely analyzing options logically from the outset.