INFLUENCE OF PAST EVENTS ON DECISION MAKING THESIS STATEMENT Various studies [ (Gilovich, 1981) (Elder, 1974) (Robert S. Wyer, 2000)] have demonstrated that Past experiences in an individual's life have a great influence on their personality and cognitive preferences. Taking the MBTI scale as the standard of comparison, within my team I have observed that everyone has qualities that reflect their own dichotomies that stand out in decision making within the team. I believe these qualities are influenced by some incidents in life, maybe an incident that happened while they were in school or situations they grew up in led them to have these qualities. INTRODUCTION We often repeat our actions which indirectly shape and reflect our behavior. People who have behaved a certain way at one time are likely to do so again (Bentler & Speckart, 1981). Likewise, we refrain from repeating an action that had negative consequences. These experiences influence our behavior and play a crucial role in our daily lives as we make key decisions. They also tend to shape personality. Janis and King (1954) hypothesized that after people perform a particular behavior they often conduct a biased memory search for previously acquired knowledge that confirms the legitimacy of their act. For example, they can identify reasons why desirable consequences of behavior are likely to occur (and reasons why these consequences are, in fact, desirable). They might then combine their estimates of the likelihood and desirability of these consequences to form a new attitude toward the behavior, and this attitude, in turn, might influence both their intentions to repeat the behavior and their actual decision to do so. . half of the sheet……, CR (2001). Building people, building programs. Retrieved from http://www.myersbriggs.org/type-use-for-everyday-life/mbti-type-at-work/Lafferty, J.C. (n.d.). Desert Survival Situation™. Retrieved from Human Synergistics International: http://www.humansynergistics.com/Products/TeamBuildingSimulations/SurvivalSeries/DesertSurvivalSituation myersbriggs.org. (n.d.). Development of the permanent type. Retrieved from the Myers and Briggs Foundation: http://www.myersbriggs.org/my-mbti-personality-type/understanding-mbti-type-dynamics/lifelong-type-development.asp myersbriggs.org. (n.d.). MBTI® type at work. Retrieved from the Myers and Briggs Foundation: http://www.myersbriggs.org/type-use-for-everyday-life/mbti-type-at-work/Robert S. Wyer, J. (2000, July). The cognitive impact of past behavior: Influences on beliefs. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79(1), 5.