I’ve lumped emotion- and intuition-based decision making together because I feel like they process the same way even though they are intrinsically different. These methods use feeling as the source of deciding on a course of action, making them highly personalized and contextual.
Emotional decisions at least have some repeatability and crossover even if end conclusions rely upon current mood and any other other factors that influence emotion (i.e., Everything Everywhere at All Times). By this I mean that if a decision fills you with joy right now, it is likely that same decision will bring you some degree of joy barring some massive changes to the variables. A woman who finds joy in being proposed to by her boyfriend does so if she is asked today, tomorrow, next week, and so on up until he does something like cheat on her, which would understandably color her opinion of the event.
On the other hand, intuition relies on a nebulous, undefinable, individual sense about what the right decision is. Even though it is a personal feeling not always based on any external quality, there are situations in which different people can intuit the same result. There’s always That Guy who just feels a bit off to everyone or That Situation that gives most people the heebie-jeebies. There is a communal, cultural nature to intuition, but it’s still undefinable. Energetic, even.
I don’t know how emotions or intuition might compel Erin to behave. I can guess with reasonable accuracy. But emotions and gut feelings surprise even the most self-aware individual. We might anticipate one reaction only to have unexpected feelings bubble to the surface. Possessing Omega-class empathic abilities would help, but I don’t have those. Hell, I barely manage normal human levels of being able to read other people.
This inability for accurate prediction and anticipation makes these feel less stable. I found it hard to justify making a choice one day that I might not make the next. The right decision is the right decision unless I had new information. Or so I thought. Why didn’t I realize how I felt about something was information that might change from day to day?
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