Reason And Emotions: Balance That Breeds Good Decisions

Some people think that the best decisions come from reason. However, it is not always effective, or possible, to make decisions after we have put our emotions aside. It is best to combine reason and emotion to make good decisions.

Decisions made only on the basis of our emotions while forgetting our reason are not a guarantee of good results either.

Finding a good balance between our rational and emotional sides is the key to better decisions. This balance comes from life experiences and a lot of past mistakes.

Therefore  , the first intelligent decision we can make is probably not to pit reason and emotion against each other. If we think about it, the heart and mind often go in the same direction. Yet, all too often, we separate reason and emotion.

Are there right decisions?

We all want to make the right decisions, the best. But what is a real decision? It’s hard to answer. Some people say that a right decision is the one that benefits us the most. However, it is not always clear what it is. If it were, everyone would choose the decision that was best for them, no matter what the consequences would be for others.

When we fall in love, for example, our emotions become stronger and we tend to take over our decisions. When we fall in love, we become almost blind and deaf. Is that what suits us most?

Emotions still influence our decisions, even when we are not in love.  The importance of emotion can be seen in brain damage in the orbitofrontal cortex. This area affects the functions of the almond kernel.

The tonsil kernel is also part of our emotional system.  Therefore, patients, with damage to the orbitofrontal cortex, do not make as many emotional decisions as humans normally do.

Separation of reason and emotion

What would we think of a person who makes purely rational decisions? If we knew that a person only cared about himself / herself, we would not trust him / her. Yet  we trust only rational people. Or not?

Empathy, the ability to understand the feelings of others, is what makes us trust other people beyond their rationality. We trust more people who can smile or be happy with us, or who get angry when something unpleasant happens, more than we trust rational people.

This is seen in teenagers. During this period, we tend to make high-risk decisions. Therefore, adolescence is considered a difficult period in which teenagers ignore their parents. The reason for this, or at least one of them, we find inside the prefrontal cortex of the brain.

The orbitofrontal cortex, which is not yet fully developed, lies in this part of the brain. As it is not fully developed, it does not control emotions effectively yet. Therefore, decisions are influenced by emotions. Fortunately, experiences during that period cause this part of the brain to develop completely over time.

The role of emotions in decision making

There seems to be a contradiction here. We say that the best way to make decisions is to combine reason and emotion. But so far we have only talked about how emotions affect us negatively. F or understand the emotions role, it is important to understand that they are somatic markers.

Somatic markers are emotions that guide us when we have to make decisions.  These markers help us decide what is best for us, especially when it comes to so many things where we can not figure out what is best.

Somatic markers are also intuitions we have gathered from previous experiences.  These intuitions warn us of potential consequences when we begin to consider different possibilities.

For example, if we walk down the street where we were robbed a few years ago, we get the feeling that we should have chosen another street. These intuitions are not always conscious. D to repeat myself, we can actually find to go down another street without knowing what led to it.

Along with intuition, fortunately, come rational processes. They allow us to assess the pros and cons.  The interplay between reason and emotion is what guides our decisions. It makes us move forward, keep hope up, and continue to be who we are.