Reason and emotion: how to create a balance to make good decisions

Especially in the illustration, the belief was cultivated that the best decisions are made through reason. However, making decisions without emotions is not always effective or possible. Making decisions from emotions, forgetting about reason, is not a guarantee of good results either. Thus, to make decisions it is best to mix reason and emotion.

Finding an intelligent balance between the rational and the emotional is key to increasing success when making decisions. At the same time, This balance is the result of life experience and, therefore, of many mistakes.

Therefore, perhaps the first smart decision we can make is stop confronting reason and heart (emotions), since, if we think about it, in most cases they tend to choose the same option. However, Unfortunately, separating reason and emotion is very common.

Do right decisions exist?

We all want to make the right decisions, the best ones. But what is a correct decision? Difficult question to answer. There are those who would say that the right decision is the one that brings us the most benefit. But this is not always clear, otherwise everyone would choose the decision that benefits them the most regardless of the consequences for others.

For example, when we fall in love, emotions gain strength and tend to take control of our decisions. During falling in love, we are somehow blind, but also deaf. Now, from the outside, is this what benefits us the most?

Emotions, whether outside of falling in love, continue to influence our decisions. Its importance was especially highlighted following some brain lesions in the orbitofrontal cortex.

This region intervenes in the functioning of the amygdala, another part of the brain that is part of our “emotional system.” So that, Patients who have lesions in the orbitofrontal cortex take emotions less into account when making decisions.

Reason and emotion without mixing

What would we think of a person who makes purely rational decisions? Knowing that a person only cares about profits, we would not trust them. He wouldn’t be a person we could trust. However, we expect people to be rational to trust them.

Or not?

The truth is that empathy, the ability to perceive emotions in others, is what makes us trust other people more than their rationality. We are going to trust more in those people who are capable of smiling at us or getting emotional in the face of our pain.

This is easier to see in teenagers. At that age, we usually make decisions that involve great risks. That is why adolescence is usually considered to be a very difficult stage where adolescents do not listen to their parents. The cause, or at least one of the causes, lies in the prefrontal cortex of the brain.

In this part of the brain is the orbitofrontal cortex, which has not fully matured. Not having matured, the control of emotions is less efficient and, therefore, influence on decision making is influenced by emotions. Fortunately, experiences at this stage of life will lead to the maturation of this part of the brain.

The role of emotion in decision making

So far there seems to be a big contradiction. We say that the best thing to do when making decisions is to mix reason and emotion, but up to this point we have only talked about the negative influence of emotions. To understand the role of emotions, it is necessary to understand what somatic markers are..

Somatic markers are feelings that serve as a guide when making decisions. These markers help us decide which option will be best for our interests, especially when reason handles so many elements that it is not able to opt for a clear option.

Somatic markers can also be understood as intuitions that have been generated from past experience. Intuitions warn us of the consequences of choosing some decisions.

For example, if we pass by a street where we were robbed a long time ago, we will have the feeling that it is better to go down another street. But these intuitions are not always conscious. Therefore, We may change streets suddenly, without knowing how to give a reason in case we are asked..

Emotions sometimes act as an alarm when faced with options that do not suit us. However, these warnings are not always reliable. They can warn us of unreal dangers, as happens in phobias.

Fortunately, Along with this intuition are rational processes, which allow us to weigh the pros and cons.. This duality between reason and emotion is what guides our decisions and what makes us move forward and maintain hope. Not stop being who we are, while we are.

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