In Reality Mr. Spock Couldn’t Make the Simplest Decision
Only 30% of individual behavior is rational — the other 70% is emotional. (The Gallop 2017 Global Emotions report – registration required for free download.)
Mr. Spock:
Logic is only part of decision-making. The other part is feelings.
Mr. Spock wouldn’t be able to make a simple decision.
Antonio Damasio studied a business person named Elliot who had a small brain tumor removed. During surgery the neurosurgeon accidentally cut the connection between the frontal lobe (center for thought) and the amygdala (center for emotions).
Elliot could think, but he couldn’t feel.
Damasio asked Elliot to pick a time for the next interview. Elliot explained the pros and cons of various times, but couldn’t choose. He didn’t have feelings/preferences.
You need feelings to make decisions.
Go with your feelings:
Gary Klein explains the intuition of a firefighter in Cleveland, Ohio who took his team into a blazing kitchen. Suddenly, yelled, ‘Let’s get out, now!’
Moments later the floor collapsed.
At first the firefighter didn’t know why he ordered everyone out. On reflection he realized that the fire had been too quiet and too hot. It didn’t feel right. Come to find out the fire was in the basement.
Expert intuition:
The firefighter had ‘expert intuition’ – pattern recognition.
You can’t help yourself from knowing the answer to 2+2. You don’t think, you know. You’re an expert.
Feelings and decision-making:
#1. Pay attention when something doesn’t feel right, if you’re an expert.
Expert intuition is pattern recognition.
#2. Acknowledge that intuition may be wrong, even if you’re an expert.
#3. Don’t rely on your intuition if you’re a novice.
#4. Having a feeling isn’t the same as making emotional decisions.
Emotional decisions cause harm. Remember that angry email you sent. What about the time your felt disrespected and lashed out?
What decision-making suggestions might you offer?
Added resource: Sources of Power: How People Make Decisions by Gary Klein
Before making decisions one can research a past decision based on a similar problem then adding intuition to make a well rounded decision.
Thanks Gerry. Yes, when have we been in a similar situation? What did we learn. How does it inform today’s decision. Cheers.
If it doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t. One thing I have learned over my 70 years, intuition is far more powerful than logic.
Thanks Jim. And all this time I thought you were logical. 🙂
I am, but my Gut is often more accurate than my Brain.
Hi Dan…I love having these words – pattern recognition – to better define intuition…huge thanks for your insights everyday. I re-read your writings regularly to give me strength and shore up confidence. Thanks so much for this daily gift.
Interesting read. Question what is in front of you en route to the decision. As with the never respond to an email in haste principle, apply this to decision making. Great comment by your follower re. his gut, sometimes it can be more accurate than anything else. Maybe I should listen and follow mine more often.
Thus is insightful and an additional puzzle piece for something I’m working on in cross-generational ministry.
Thank you Dan.
You got some things wrong on the case of Elliot as described by Damasio in Descartes’ Error – a good book that you should read some time. First, the tumor was large, not small, and was fast growing. Second, the damage was caused by the tumor, not the surgeons … no accident was made in surgery. Third, there is no single connection between the amygdala and frontal cortex, where the damage actually occurred (specifically, the right frontal cortices). But yes, once the executive center of the brain no longer had access to feelings (mostly in the form of preferences and intuitions) simple decisions, especially in the personal and social domains, became near impossible…