When people need help, what is the process through which they decide whom in their network to turn to?  Research on social support has described a process that is deliberative in nature: people determine their needs, assess who in their network has the needed attributes—such as skill, trustworthiness, intimacy, and accessibility—and then activate that tie.  Nevertheless, research in behavioral economics and other fields has shown that people make many decisions not deliberatively but intuitively. Mario Luis Small, Harvard University.

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