Valuation and Prioritisation in Everyday Life: An Interdisciplinary Review Across Economics, Biology, and Behavioral Science
Abstract
Human decision-making is fundamentally an allocation problem under conditions of scarcity and uncertainty. Individuals continuously assign value to alternatives and prioritize actions given limited time, energy, and resources. This review integrates major theoretical contributions from economics, biology, psychology, and decision theory, including marginal utility, opportunity cost, expected utility theory, statistical value of life, insurance value, survival analysis, optimal-foraging theory, life-history theory, reinforcement learning, and motivational psychology. It finds that individuals prioritize outcomes that enhance survival probability, reduce uncertainty, strengthen social bonds, increase autonomy and competence, and preserve future opportunities. The review argues that human valuation is best understood as a multilayered adaptive system shaped by evolutionary pressures, cognitive constraints, and environmental conditions.
Authors
Chandan Kumar, Sumit Kumar, Suman Raj, Sonali Kumari, Bittu Kumar
Institution
Noida Institute of Engineering & Technology (MCA Institute), Greater Noida, India
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