Research Paper: Head way / Heart way

Logical decision-making

When we use logic to make decisions, we tend to exclude emotions, using only rational methods, and perhaps even with some model or tools. The foundation of such decisions is the principle of utility, whereby the value of each option is assessed by assigning criteria

There is a whole range of decision-making that uses emotion, depending on the degree to which one feels involved with the subject matter.

A totally emotional decision is very fast – it is typically a reactive (and largely subconscious) decision-making that you experience on ‗the  spur of the moment ‗or‘  in a flash ‗.  Whereas it takes time (at least 0.1 seconds) for the rational cortex to get going (from conscious mind) Emotions are perhaps also signals from the subconscious that tell us a lot about what we really choose as illustrated in Damasio‘s research below.

Damasio’s research

Neuroscientist Antonio Damasio studied people who had received brain injuries that had damaged that part of the brain where emotions are generated. In all other respects they seemed normal – they just lost the ability to feel emotions.

Peculiar thing he found was that they could logically describe what they should be doing but in practice they found it very difficult to make decisions particularly, when pros and cons / preferences were involved.

In conclusion , while depending on ‗  size ‗  of the decision , nature of a person , acuteness of a situation , time exigency & many such factors ; the extent of Head & Heart that is brought in to the decision making will vary ( e.g. There would be much less  of   a ‗  Heart ‗  in routine buying of a bread v/s in purchase of a car ), both the Head & the Heart are important stakeholders in decision making process & not really one at the cost of other .

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