People are faced with instances to make decisions every day. The decision making is influenced by many factors that dictates the reality we see. This paper will determine how emotions play a critical part in decisions making and what should be considered in order to reach the right decisions.
Emotions have a direct effect in decision making behavior. Sad or angry people are quite impatient and tend to make decisions that will not be in their interest in the long term. However, it is difficult to take control of emotions. What is important is finding ways to hand the situation before making an important decision (Lamia, 2013).
It is important to think through decisions before making them. Most of the time people do not and end up to use intuition in decision making process. One of the problems that people face in decision making is being overconfidence. This is one problem in decision making that has got many people in trouble. It is part of faulty thinking that comes naturally (Lamia, 2013).
Behavioral decision making is composed of bounded rationality. Psychologists have noted that the interests of the immediate wants of people are quite different that those that one would have wanted in the long term (Vohs et al., 2007).
The bounded rationality framework dictates that in as much as men tend to have rational thought, it does not reflect in their decisions. The decisions are limited to the intellection levels and highly determined by time. That explains why over time, people’s judgement on a situation slowly fades. It also explains where two different people are able to give different judgments to the same situation that they undergo (Lamia, 2013).
There is enough evidence to show that biases affect all people include those that are considered smart. Even policemen have run into a lot of trouble when they misjudge actions of people in the street. This has caused a lot of trouble between civilians and the police in many parts of the world.
Vohs et al. (2007) have given methods that could be used reduce the biases in people. It is divided ion two sections, system 1 and 2. The first one is effortless, fast, implicit, automatic and emotional (Vohs et al., 2007). The second system is more conscious, slower and logical. System one is applied to most automatic decisions that people make. It is not logical to have an intensive thought on common things like combing the hair or starting a car. In addition, most of the time individuals are too busy to only have a single thought on their mind. However, system 2 should be used in making more important decisions (Vohs et al., 2007).
It is easy to be able to identify scenarios in which to use the two systems of making decisions. Emotions is a critical part in decision making. This is because at any moment, there is an emotion at play be it a sad one or a happy one. And all these, has an effect in the behavior of the individual. Making use of the two systems will assist in ensuring that one makes the best decision with limited biases.
We can do it today.
- Lamia, M. C. (2013). Emotions: Making sense of your feelings. Washington, DC: Magination Press.
- Vohs, K. D., Baumeister, R. F., & Loewenstein, G. (2007). Do emotions help or hurt decision making: A hedgefoxian perspective. New York: Russell Sage Foundation