Are Emotions Good or Bad for Human Decision Making? Perspectives from Neuroscience
Speaker
Abstract
| For centuries, philosophers and thinkers have debated whether emotions are beneficial or detrimental to human decision making. The general consensus viewpoint that pervaded the centuries was that emotions are like wild-horses that need to be reined in, that good decisions are those that are made devoid of emotion. Our recent understanding of the working of the human brain points to a diametrically opposite viewpoint, that emotions not only exert important influences on decision making but also might actually be essential for and fundamental to making advantageous decisions. In this presentation, I will (1) highlight some of the startling and counter-intuitive insights being unraveled on the workings of the human brain and then (2) get to the “so what?” of these findings for individual decision making. |
| Contact information: |
| Dr. B. Donkers |
