Role of Emotion in Decision Making
I can not say that I have always been the most confident decision maker with respect to subjects I was even quite familiar with. Areas of in-depth knowledge in my life include gymnastics, personal training, Newtonian physics, billiards, drafting and special operations. However, depending on the environment, persons involved, and the circumstances in which decisions would be made, an element of emotion may directly, or indirectly effect those decisions. Emotional decisions can have far reaching consequences unknown to the decision maker at the time who is 'blinded' by the emotions in the first place.
While conducting a team navigation exercise during Basic Underwater Demolition SEAL (BUD/S) training, five of us were working together finding our way through mountainous terrain back to base camp. Although we all knew how to conduct basic orienteering, I was quite confident in my own abilities to navigate under most circumstances. Throughout the day, I typically determined where we were supposed to be heading and watched the others take lead and decide. For the most part everyone agreed, thus followed the lead navigator. For some reason, I felt a couple of the team members were not quite sure, yet agreed anyway.
As the day progressed, we were preparing to depart stake number six out of eight. After the team discussed the our current location on the map, the location where stake number seven was on the map, and the path we were going take to get there, I had confidently interjected requesting a second look at our presumed current location, resection, and heading. As with most type A personalities, two of the team members concurred, defending their original assessment. I had asked them to show the rest of us what point they were using to conduct a resection in determining our current location. It turned out, after carefully pointing out their misidentification of a resection point, that they were incorrect, and after showing what I believed to be a resection point, put the team back on target and schedule again. Knowing we all agreed on my resection point, boosted my confidence even further. While walking, I continuously conducted map studies en route to our next way point, and already knew we would get back without any further miscalculations. Thankfully, I enjoyed the challenge that land navigation offered me.
At another time, as a new Navy Chief, I was asked, along with my peers, to grade and rank the First Class Petty Officers for their first soft ranking prior to their final breakout amongst their peers. While sitting around with the other Chiefs with the E6 evaluations in hand, I did not know exactly what I was looking for. While I was getting an idea from each evaluation as to how each E6 compared to each other, the Chiefs began taking votes for rankings. Still confused a bit, I decided to raise my hand along with the majority who raised theirs. As each member was getting ranked by our votes, I was placing their evaluations accordingly in my hand. I continued to vote as such until the session was over.
Although I took the evaluations and read through them again to make sense of their new ranking, I felt bad that some of these E6s may not make Chief because of my lack of understanding, as well as those making Chief that may not yet deserve it. My disposition that led me to deciding to vote with the majority rather than not voting at all, was one of doubt and fear; doubt from lack of confidence in understanding the criteria in ranking, and fear that the other Chiefs would find me unprepared, uncaring and unmotivated.
The emotions I was able to recognize and acknowledge from the team land navigation decision making was confidence, pride and appreciation. As for the E6 soft ranking, guilt, fear and embarrassment. However, in both situations, the feelings I experienced served their purpose throughout the decision making process, both for myself and those around me. Hoch, Kunreuther & Gunther (2001), states that "emotions can become dysfunctional when they persist indefinitely, or when they are situational inappropriate" (p. 32). Not knowing whether or not keeping my ignorance a secret was going to bode well for me, but if I remained 'lost in the crowd', then I should be able to safely 'move with the crowd', so to speak.
"There is now a growing body of evidence that affect and emotions play an important role in people’s decision processes for choices when there are uncertain outcomes" (Hoch et al, 2001, Ch. 15).
References:
Hoch, S., Kunreuther, H., & Gunther, R. (2001). Wharton on making decisions (1st Ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Shiv, B. (2011). Brain research at Stanford: Decision making [YouTube Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRKfl4owWKc
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