Positives and Negatives of Emotional Decision-Making
This time of year comes with lots of buying decisions, and more often than not, those decisions can be heavily based on emotion. The emotions we feel when perusing Cyber Monday sales, filling our digital shopping carts and clicking “checkout,” or handing over our credit card while Mariah Carey, the Queen of Christmas herself, serenades us over the loudspeakers in a department store.
Think of every memorable purchase you’ve made. How often have you made that purchase based on emotion?
Emotions are created based on what’s happening in our mind, whether that’s what we are thinking, the memories we have, our beliefs, or the environment around us. And this doesn’t mean that the same scenario results in the same decision for everyone.
For example, imagine if you decided to take a walk one day and found yourself strolling by a dog park. For dog lovers, this is a utopia. It’s a place that sparks joy and puts a smile on your face. However, the same cannot be said for someone afraid of dogs. Again, same situation, but for them, it turns into an anxiety-ridden scenario filled with heart palpitations and cold sweats.
Two completely opposite emotions are felt in the same environment. Emotions are funny like that, which is why they influence our decisions positively and negatively. So, when you make decisions based on emotions, is that necessarily a good or bad thing?
Well… both.
Positives of Emotional Decision-Making
Usually, emotional decisions are ones we make rather rapidly in comparison to when we base decisions on rationalization. When you need a decision made immediately, whether you’re in danger or on a deadline, emotional decisions accomplish that. For example, if you’re about to run a stop sign and take the time to think about if you should put your foot on the brake or not and the pros and cons of each, you would already be pulled over on the side of the road getting a ticket for running the stop sign when you came to a decision.
Usually, emotional decisions come from the gut. Emotions can result from our subconscious getting in on the action, meaning it’s the truest gauge of how or what we really feel. For example, if you are asked out on a date and your gut feeling is to say no, but you sit and break down the pros and cons of the person asking you and talk yourself into how nice of a person they are, you might end up saying yes. However, the fire isn’t there, and the relationship goes nowhere.
Negatives of Emotional Decision-Making
When we make decisions too quickly, we might wonder why we are making them. Logic never enters the equation, which in some cases can be great for the over-analyzer in us but can be detrimental depending on the enormity of a decision. For example, if you are looking for a job, you might jump at the first offer you receive because you feel like a failure being unemployed or are so miserable in the job you have. However, it might not be the best career situation for you.
When we act on immediate emotions, it can cloud our judgment. This can lead to careless decisions. Have you ever been in a relationship where instead of falling in love with someone, you fell in love with being in love and then masked that feeling as being in love with the person? Or do you have a friendship with someone that you have to talk yourself into staying friends with because you’ve known them for so long, or they’ve been a close friend of the family? In both situations, our judgment can be compromised and our reality distorted.
The decision-making process will never be a carbon copy we can use each time we need to make a decision. Instead, the goal is to identify the decisions we can make emotionally and those we need rationale behind.
How often do you feel like emotions come into play with your decision-making? Share your thoughts by commenting below.