Irrational Decisions Under Stress

[Black Rose]

I think what happens is that before the mind shuts down we are trying to understand what is happening but can't seem to. So before we completely shut off mistakes happen. These mistakes lead us to question what we are doing and notice delirium. At that point, all we can do is find a safe spot to go to and do nothing.

This may occur in day-to-day settings but is also the same process as sleep deprivation.

Burnout is when we cannot rest enough to make sure to correct mistakes in the here and now.

Making mistakes that cannot be fixed because we lose self-awareness.

Then we become incapacitated mentally and unable to function.

 

[Black Rose]

School is too hard to try.

So instead I will do something else.

 

[Black Rose]

 

[Old Things]

People make irrational decisions all the time both when they are stressed and when they are thinking perfectly fine. Why? People are not inherently rational. We are inherently biased. This does not mean making rational decisions is impossible, it just means we need to fight against our own will to do so.

 

[Black Rose]

We are inherently biased.

Biased toward or against what?

 

[Old Things]

We are inherently biased.

Biased toward or against what?

Lots of things. From what is your favorite color to what you think the meaning of life is.

 

[Black Rose]

There are degrees of rationality and irrationality though.

Having a favorite color is not something people often get sent away for.

If a person is functional in society (most people are) then it is only at the extreme ends of irrationality that people notice things are not right with someone.

If functionality is the issue then most irrationality is not a problem.

When irrationality becomes a problem, what form of normal rationality did they lose?

 

[fractalwalrus]

Rationality is a vehicle for reaching a destination that the driver sets. Absent the motive of the driver, rationality cannot choose the destination independently. Most of our destinations as drivers are set by whim (emotions). The desire to survive, for example, is not necessarily rational from one's own perspective, but the presence of that desire in other entities is entirely rational when one tries to account for why life exists and persists.

 

[Drvladivostok]

More damage is done by no decision by no decision, that being said it helps when you feel overwhelmed to stand back and analyze everything with a cool head.

 

[fractalwalrus]

More damage is done by no decision by no decision, that being said it helps when you feel overwhelmed to stand back and analyze everything with a cool head.

Are you sure that more damage is done by no decision than by decision? Can you think of cases where this was not true? What if Hitler, for example, was indecisive?