When it comes to making decisions, some of us are clearly better at making good ones than others. The ability to make good decisions is a skill that we (hopefully) develop over time. This helps us avoid putting ourselves into difficult positions and prevent problems from happening.
Types of Decisions
Decisions are often grouped into one of two main categories: emotionally driven decisions and logical decisions.
An example of an emotional decision could be when you suddenly stumble upon something that you weren’t looking for. Even though you don’t need it, now that you’ve seen it, you feel you must have it. Perhaps it’s a delicious slice of cake or a fancy gadget that you “might need some day”. Of course, there are plenty of other examples, such as the decision to react aggressively to a colleague who has offended you, or screaming and running away from a small, harmless house spider. In each of these examples, the decisions are driven by emotional impulses.
These have a rapid and strong effect on how we behave. For this reason, people often associate emotional decisions with irrational behaviour or poor judgement. But these reactions are hardwired into us and are difficult to ignore. In some instances, they can help us in moments where we need to react quickly to danger.
Logical decision making is when we draw upon what we know about something and try to predict the outcome before committing to a particular choice. For example, writing a shopping list before you head out. Instead of simply going out shopping and seeing if you can find anything that strikes your fancy, you plan. This way, you avoid unnecessary distractions and spend money only on the things you need. If a colleague writes an offensive e-mail to you, you take a moment to collect yourself. This pause helps you to respond calmly and professionally. This kind of decision making often takes significantly longer than emotional decisions. When applied well, it helps to increase our chances of a better outcome.
Although it is easy to see the differences between these two ways of making decisions and claim that one might be better than the other, decisions are often a mixture of both emotional and logical choices. Sometimes, we will try to rationalise bad choices so that we feel better about them. When making a more logic based decision, we will likely let our feelings influence our actions at times.
Decision Making When Donating
Charitable organisations often try to appeal to our emotions by showing images and videos and sharing stories that elicit emotion. Since there is a huge emotional component to our decision making, this is indeed an effective way to encourage people to donate. It is, after all, difficult to persuade people to part with money that will likely never give them any personal and tangible return beyond the satisfaction of knowing they are helping. Despite their good intentions, it may sometimes feel as though these organisations are taking advantage of our predictable emotional responses. Given that people largely make the decision to donate to charity based on emotion, does that mean they are making a bad decision?
Carefully crafted media may trigger our initial drive to help. But donating to charity is, of course, not a bad decision in most cases.
The Importance of Both Logic and Emotion in Decision Making
Although adverts, appeals, and donation collectors may encourage you to support a cause you believe in, you should never make the decision to donate based entirely on emotion.
To feel empathy towards another human being or animal is completely natural. It is not something you need to stifle. But when it comes to handing money over to a charity, you can take a little extra time to ensure you are making the right choice. This way, you can rest assured that your donation will be used effectively.
When we donate to charity, we want to know that our money is really going to make a difference. It’s not just going to help cover the costs of administrative overheads. We want the people who manage our donations to use a significant proportion of them to create meaningful good. This is why it is important to not only understand the cause you are donating towards, but also the organisation that will be handling your money. Look at the impact that they are having on the real world. See if they are trying to create lasting benefits or quick fixes. Check for financial transparency. Don’t be afraid to reach out and ask questions if you want to know more about them.
The Anonymous Project is currently focusing its efforts on helping communities in Uganda. We do this by creating sustainable solutions to the daily struggles faced by people in deprived areas. You can find out more about how we are helping by looking through our project page.
Conclusion
The decision making process involves both emotions and logic. In order to make good choices, we need to ensure that we appropriately apply logic in this process so we can feel confident we have done the right thing. This doesn’t include convincing yourself that you really should get that extra big slice of chocolate cake because you had such a stressful day. It means that you need to research who you are handing your money over to. You want to be sure it’s going to do what you want it to do.
When we make rash decisions to donate money, we can end up feeling as though our emotions have been taken advantage of. No one wants to feel that they have been pressured into donating. If you are uncertain, whether your uncertainty is about the organisation or your own feelings, it is good practice to take a step back and give yourself a moment to think things through more carefully before committing to anything.
Most importantly, emotionally driven decisions do not have to be poor decisions. Take a bit of extra time to make carefully thought out decisions that you won’t regret.