You Like to Think You’re Immune to The Stuff
Man is many things, but he is not rational.
Oscar Wilde
You will never understand others as long as you think of them as rational beings.
Here are some examples of how people act irrationally.
Loss aversion
People value loss at twice the rate of gain.
The typical person would need to gain $100 to balance the loss of $50 emotionally.
Cognitive dissonance
Once people choose a team, they will interpret any facts they are given as supporting that team.
Projection
People suspect others of committing transgressions that they themselves are doing or would do.
Mindreading
People drastically overestimate their ability to know what others are thinking.
Fortune telling
People believe they can reliably predict the future.
Sunk Cost Fallacy
People continue to invest money and time in something they have already spent money or time on because they don’t want to “lose” their investment.
Rationalization
People make decisions emotionally and justify them afterward with logical explanations.
These are just a few examples of the many ways people are irrational.
It is natural to think of these examples as glitches in otherwise logical thinking.
But that is not the case.
The natural state of people is irrational.
This is true for every person, even engineers and scientists. No one is exempt from irrational thinking.
This includes you.
You will never understand yourself as long as you believe you are a rational being.
You can see the irrationality in others but seeing it in yourself is difficult.
It is so difficult that it is impossible.
Most of the time, it is not especially dangerous.
· Choosing a sports team to root for
· Deciding which foods you like
· Picking the style of clothes you wear
But there are times when this irrational orientation can be dangerous.
It can create financial risk, relational risk, and health risk.
Your only hope is to have people you trust to point out when you are ignoring logic and heading toward danger.
It will also help if you improve your emotional intelligence.
The better you understand your feelings, the more aware you will be of how they influence you.
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