For thousands of years, human beings have looked down on their emotions. We\u2019ve seen them as primitive passions, the unfortunate legacy of our animal past. When we do stupid things \u2013 say, eating too much cake, or sleeping with the wrong person, or taking out a subprime mortgage \u2013 we usually blame our short-sighted feelings. People commit crimes of passion. There are no crimes of rationality.<\/p>\n
This bias against feeling has led people to assume that reason is always best. When faced with a difficult dilemma, most of us believe that it\u2019s best to carefully assess our options and spend a few moments consciously deliberating the information. Then, we should choose the alternative that best fits our preferences. This is how we maximize utility; rationality is our Promethean gift.<\/p>\n
But what if this is all backwards? What if our emotions know more than we know? What if our feelings are smarter than us?<\/p>\n
While there is an extensive literature on the potential wisdom of human emotion \u2013 David Hume was a prescient guy \u2013 it\u2019s only in the last few years that researchers have demonstrated that the emotional system (aka Type 1 thinking) might excel at complex decisions, or those involving lots of variables. If true, this would suggest that the unconscious is better suited for difficult cognitive tasks than the conscious brain, that the very thought process we\u2019ve long disregarded as irrational and impulsive might actually be more intelligent, at least in some conditions.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Jonah Lehrer: For thousands of years, human beings have looked down on their emotions. We\u2019ve seen them as primitive passions, the unfortunate legacy of our animal past. When we do stupid things \u2013 say, eating too much cake, or sleeping with the wrong person, or taking out a subprime mortgage \u2013 we usually blame […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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