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Decision making, mood and emotions - How moods and emotions can have an impact on our decisions

SKILL: CRITICAL REFLECTION,  MAKING DECISIONs AND PROBLEM SOLVING / 

 

TITLE: Decision making, mood and emotions 

SUBTITLE: How moods and emotions can have an impact on our decisions 

 

EQF LEVEL: 3

 

Keywords 

 

  1. ADAPTATION
  2. EMERGENCY
  3. ANSWERS
  4. DISTORSIONS
  5. BRAIN FUNCTIONS

 

Introduction

 

Most people believe that decisions should be rational, without the influence of emotions, which could cause distortions on the reasoning itself. In this LU you will be given examples of how emotions and mood can influence our decisions.  



Content 

 

Several psychological studies highlight how emotions play an important role in our decision-making processes. For example, emotions experienced in the moment can act as "automatic" signals to guide our responses on the basis of simple categories of approach/avoidance. Other studies, however, have highlighted how the emotional component can act as a mediator of the decision-making response by influencing the perception and subjective evaluation of the situation and helping us to weigh alternatives.



Emotions, then, can automatically trigger impulsive responses or provide a stimulus to think and evaluate a problem from different perspectives before making decisions about how to act.



The emotional system  is an emergency system in itself: it must be able to give an initial immediate response to the stimuli of the surrounding world, even if inaccurate. In other words, our emotional reactions inform us about the possible danger of the situations in which we find ourselves. 

 

Let's look at an example: let's imagine taking a walk in a forest, and tseeing a motionless object which we are not yet able to identify in the distance Judging by its shape and color, itcould be a snake. The first reaction would be that of fear. Our body may react with accelerated heartbeats and sudden sweating, and maybe this first reaction would lead us to change our route if possible, or to pick up a wooden stick to signal our presence and hope that the animal runs away. Only later, upon getting closer and closer, albeit slowly, can we see the object more clearly and recognize that it is a broken branch that somehow ended up on the path. We breath a sigh of relief and continue on our way. 

 

In the example above, the role that our emotions played on the decisions we made can easily be observed. Emotion, in the above case fear, allows us to assess the danger of an external stimulus, apparently a snake, and to implement the necessary behavioral consequences, changing course or taking preventive measures. Fear allows us to implement a fast response in an emergency situation. It would not be possible for us to react at the same speed if we were to reason things out.. 

 

The neuroscientist Damasio first questioned the split between reason and emotion when he came across the case of a man who, following a brain injury, suffered an alteration in his ability to decide, and  experience emotions and feelings, while all other functions related to reasoning remained intact. Phineas Gage, foreman of a construction company, was pierced by a metal rod in the frontal part of the brain. From that episode, Gage surprisingly survived, but a drastic change in his personality was observed, unable to comply with rules, to choose the most advantageous behaviour or to plan for the future. 

 

Damasio tells us of another patient with injuries who, despite the icy road, had no problems reaching the practice, unlike other drivers who had been involved in several accidents. The latter, as a result of panic, had hit the brakes abruptly, a risky choice given the slippery surface. The patient, on the contrary, had managed to implement the right strategy with a cool head and with equal coolness reported it to the doctor. The patient, however, proved unable to express a preference regarding the date of their next appointment. Damasio says, in fact, that the subject started to analyse costs and benefits for each date, evaluating different factors such as weather conditions, probability of encountering traffic, going on for half an hour without being able to make a decision. 

 

The study of these subjects brought more and more evidence in favour of the contribution of emotion over reason. When emotion could not contribute to reasoning, decision making was compromised. The subjects showed themselves competent in analysing all possible scenarios, but totally unable to transform this meticulous analysis into a choice. 

 

In conclusion, emotions, and the body sensations connected to them, help us to reason and, more specifically, to make  decisions and plan for the future. Emotions, when faced with  dangerous situations, can make us make "urgent" choices; in general, it will always be the emotion, through a conscious or unconscious bodily sensation, that is questioned first, and it is only afterwards that the meticulous analysis of reason will take over.

 

Contrary to popular belief, emotion does not get in the way of reason. In fact,  quite the contrary happens!

 

Language Point

 

Relative clauses

 

Read the sentences below:

  1. The neuroscientist Damasio first questioned the split between reason and emotion when he came across the case of a man who suffered an alteration in his ability to decide.

 

  1. Let's imagine taking a walk in a forest and seeing a motionless object which we are not yet able to identify.

 

The words in bold are relative pronouns. Both are used to connect a dependent  clause to an independent one. In the sentences above, the part of the sentence before the words in bold are the independent clauses, whilst the parts that come after are the dependent clauses. 

 

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