What do gut decisions reveal about us?
12 September, 2018
New research by the American Psychological Association shows that people who make decisions based on their gut feelings are more likely to stick to them.
Since the times of Ancient Greece, our behavior has been analyzed using the dichotomy of reason versus emotion.
According to some commentators, Plato believed that if we are to be functional and make the best decisions, we must make sure that emotions are controlled by the strong hand of reason.
The philosopher used his famous charioteer allegory to describe reason as the charioteer, and emotions and appetites as unruly horses. Since then, however, modern science has rehabilitated the role of emotions, particularly in decision-making.
Neuroscience has revealed that emotions are at the basis of our choices, and if anything, we use our reason to postfactually justify the decisions that our emotions have already made for us.
In this context, our so-called gut feelings are more precious than we might have once thought. New research finds that intuitive, feelings-based decisions give people a sense of conviction that deliberative decisions do not.
Moreover, people who trust their gut feelings are likely to see such intuitive decisions as a more accurate representation of their true, authentic selves.
The new study was conducted by Sam Maglio, Ph.D., an associate professor of marketing at the University of Toronto Scarborough in Canada, and Taly Reich, Ph.D., an assistant professor of marketing at Yale University in New Haven, CT.
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