Decision making – Heart over Head or Vice Versa

We often find ourselves in situations when our mind and its logics battle against the heart and its emotions regarding several decisions. Have you ever wondered why it happens that a certain area pulls a decision towards itself and you tend to repel from the other one? 

Some research studies discard the notion of ‘Heart vs Mind’ claiming it as an illusion and stating that the only function a heart performs is of pumping blood essential for survival and only the brain allows us to think and behave whereas psychologists tend to differ and believe that human beings are emotional creatures and fail to apply logic in certain situations and though convinced by the fact, they still point out that every person is unique in making choices that are based on many other factors too (like individual differences, age, conceptions, relationships, wisdom etc.) .

Decisions can be as small as what to have for lunch and as big as choosing a career path. Many a times, we get carried away by our temptations even when we know the risks involved in it because temptations lure us to make quick decisions. Such situations involve irrational thinking and there is a chance that we might feel regretful in future. In his excellent book, Blink, Malcolm Gladwell argues that the quick decision–the “snap” judgment–is much maligned. He cites many studies showing that human beings are remarkably good at “thin-slicing”–making a speedy assessment of situations and acting on conclusions based on very little information. 

On the other hand, when we put our mind and thoughts in decision making, we tend to apply more logic as we are giving time and only after looking through every aspect we end up considering a choice. Another significant side of this wrangle is that there exists a commendable history of making rational decisions that involve thorough analysis especially for the things that are irreversible in nature like when somebody decides to go for a particular investment policy or buying an expensive asset.

But a contrasting factor appears when it comes to ‘Opportunities’. By now, we know that our mind usually advocates the safer option, the heart-the risky one. To illustrate, assume that a person has an opportunity to go on his dream vacation trip. He knows that his bank balance won’t allow him to do so but somehow his heart manages to persuade him to go for it because there are chances he would never get such an opportunity ever again. In such situations, people tend to make impulsive decisions as they know that doing against what they really want will make them regret it in future.

To my way of thinking, whatever may be the source for a person to make decisions, he should always have belief in himself and acceptance for any kind of choice made by him because no matter what the outcome is, what really matters it that there are no regrets of any sort when a person has made up his mind to pursue one thing and neglect the other.