This summer I had the great opportunity to spend two weeks in Emanuel College,

Cambridge University for the mid-IB OC !ourses" Coin!identally, this happened whilst
mu!h of the #I#$ %orld Cup was taking pla!e, a very e&!iting time for Bra'ilians who are
not only heavily atta!hed to the event, but also had the opportunity to be its host" (owever,
there has been strong !ontroversy around the sub)e!t re!ently due to the !lash of opinions"
*any Bra'ilians firmly believe our own people should not be supporting su!h a ma)or event
when most of its vast funding was used in ways that do not benefit the general Bra'ilian
population" Instead we should use the attention from the worldwide media in order to drag
attention to su!h issues"
I am personally euphori! to see the population of my home !ountry finally get
involved with its fate by su!h a manifest+ however this sparked a personal !onfli!t" (aving
grown up in a !ulture that revolves so heavily around the sport of football it is simply
impossible not to !heer for the eleven men battling on the field to bring glory to their nation" I
began to reali'e I !ould not !hoose reason over my strong emotions" (en!e the following
,uestion- Is emotion more prevalent than reason when making decisions?
.rofessor /oa!him 0rueger is a so!ial psy!hologist at Brown University who pursues
the timeless ,uestion of how reason and emotion affe!t de!ision-making" (e states that
emotions are often present for a brief moment on!e presented with a situation" (owever as
time passes, reason takes over and di!tates our way of thinking" #or e&ample, you may be
angry at someone and lash out, however you may later regret your emotion-driven de!ision"
1evertheless, emotions tend to gear us towards pleasure and away from pain whi!h aids out
logi!al thought pro!ess" 0rueger dis!usses in his arti!le a study done re!ently by $ntonio
2amasio where they studied risk-involved de!isions" .arti!ipants were told to pi!k !ards
from two different de!ks where one had lower gains but more !onsistently, while the other
rarely paid out but often in large amounts" *ost people began by taking risks but !hanged
their attitudes on!e e&perien!es the negative emotions involved with the loss" Interestingly, a
group of parti!ipants with damage in their orbitofrontal !orte& did not rea!t similarly" They
were unable to feel the negative emotion asso!iated with the loss and hen!e !ontinued to pi!k
from the riskier de!k" In this !ase negative emotions are benefi!ial to reasoned de!isions but
this is not always true" This e&periment was followed with a similar risk-involved study
where pi!king the riskier strategy was mu!h more benefi!ial+ the results remained the same
but in this !ase emotion had a negative effe!t on the de!ision making pro!ess" 0rueger
!on!ludes that both results lead ba!k to a null !on!lusion" Emotions !an be both harmful and
benefi!ial in a reasoned de!ision varying in every situation" 1onetheless emotions are
ne!essary in order to make rapid de!isions and step in then the environment does not present
suffi!ient information for our de!ision making"
This !on!ept is !lear when I think of how !onformity affe!ts my taste in musi!" %hen
the song 3.ower Trip4 was first presented to me I was not fond of it" There were several good
aspe!ts to it, but the song itself simply did not please me emotionally" $fter knowing it was
written by /" Cole my opinion heavily !hanged and I began to pay more attention to the good
aspe!ts within it" I eventually grew a!!ustomed to the song and grew to like it" $t first I
thought solely on emotion and was not pleased with the song, however after knowing it was
from an artist I admire I began to appre!iate it signifi!antly more" This also happened with an
artist going by the name of 3564" I was never ,uite a fan of his work until dis!overing his
produ!er was also responsible for numerous other songs I was fond of" (is musi! did not
please me emotionally but on!e analy'ing it rationally, I re!ogni'ed the e&pertise behind the
produ!tion and lyri!s and !ame to a reasoned !on!lusion that it was better than I initially
assumed" %hether or not musi! is meant to be )udged by reason does not !hange the fa!t that
our !on!lusions are formed differently depending on whether we use reason or emotion"
Emotion is often stronger in the initial en!ounter of a situation whi!h re,uires a
de!ision, and as it slowly begins to fade off, reason be!omes prevalent and takes over our
de!ision making" (en!e emotion is not more prevalent in de!ision making than reason and
the opposite is also untrue" Both reason and emotion are !ru!ial in making de!isions although
their influen!e varies on the situation and the time allo!ated to a given de!ision"
our!es-
0rueger, /oa!him, 2r" 78eason and Emotion- $ 1ote on .lato, 2arwin, and
2amasio"7 Psychology Today" usse& 2ire!tories, In!", 9: /une ;<9<" %eb" ;= $ug"
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