ABSTRACT
This chapter explores some of the sources of individual variability in clinical decision making that might affect diagnostic calibration. Individual variability in decision making refers to characteristics of the individual decision maker that may influence the quality of decision making. Having a paternalistic approach meant assuming a therapeutic privilege to decide what was best for the patient and that, in some cases, it might be in the patient's interest not to know certain things—there was a focus on care rather than patient autonomy. Rationality is of all-encompassing importance for clinical decision making. There are significant individual differences among people in their behavior patterns, cognition, and emotion. Mindfulness requires both awareness and attention in a particular situation. It reflects the capacity of some individuals for enhanced attention to and awareness of aspects of the environment, and generally of life's experiences.
