Decision Making and Emotional Responses
Decision making forms a very significant aspect of human thinking and problem-solving. Humans make decisions based on two major factors, namely, the emotional aspect and the logical aspect of reasoning. Decisions made due to emotional responses come from the heart while those based on logic come from well-reasoned facts. Personally, I prefer making a decision based on an emotional response. This is because I believe that emotions are basically shortcuts that are created by our brains to trigger feelings that eventually guide our actions and decisions. In my opinion, using emotion is the only way human beings can make logical decisions as shown by the decision-making problems encountered by people with brain damage (Morse, 2006). However, I generally use logic and reason when making important decisions. I believe that in the decision-making process, logic comes into play when justifying the final decision, which is why I rely on my emotion to make the best logical decision.
Logic Overriding Emotional Responses
Nevertheless, there are cases where logic overrides the emotional responses mostly when making huge decisions. A good example of a moment when I used logic to make a big decision at the expense of my emotional response is when I decided to buy a commuter car as opposed to a supercharged motorcycle, which I had always loved since I was a kid and always hoped to own one when I grew up. I made the decision because, at the time, it made more sense to buy a personal car since it would potentially run a majority of my errands and duties in a much more convenient way compared to the supercharged motorcycle. This incident shows that critical thinking is very significant in analyzing a problem and coming up with the solution that best fits the current situation (Morse, 2006).
Reference
Morse, G. (January 01, 2006). Decisions and desire. Harvard Business Review, 84, 1, 44-51.
