The emotional brain is driven by our dopamine system. Dopamine is responsible for our emotions and is the fuel of our hidden decision-making.
While it may seem that our emotions are somewhat instinctual, hence fixed, they are quite the contrary. In fact, they reflect the emotional brain’s view of how the world is working at a particular point in time.
Dopamine is our reward system and dopamine neurons run on experience and expectation. If dopamine neurons predict a reward (based on past experience) and the reward happens, we feel pleasure and the neurons retain the connection. But, if the predicted reward does not happen, the dopamine neurons record the error for future reference.
Decisions from the emotional brain happen quickly, with little information, and feel like instinct or intuition. Because a conclusion from the emotional brain is not rooted in logic, we are unable to justify it. Instead, we feel that it is right, no reasons why.
Strengths and Weaknesses of Our Emotional Brain:
| Strengths | Weaknesses |
| Knows more than we think we know
Creates our wisdom
Excels at complex decisions (too many factors) | Erroneously perceives patterns in randomness
Feels loses more than gains
Over-values immediate gains
Is useless with numbers |
Strengths:
The emotional brain knows more than we think we do. It is always busy deciding how the world is working based on what we are experiencing and then rewiring itself. As Lehrer states, “Even when we think we know nothing, our brains know something. That’s what our feelings are trying to tell us.”
Science confirms that the emotional brain is how we become experts. An expert is someone “having, involving, or displaying special skill or knowledge derived from training or experience”. Human expertise results, not from executing logic, but from our emotions. Because experts make decisions without the overhead of logic, experts appear to operate effortlessly, on autopilot, no explanations necessary.
The emotional brain is best for decisions for which the quantity of conditions is overwhelming and there is too much information for us to process with logic. “Complex problems….require the processing powers of the emotional brain, the supercomputer of the mind.”
Weaknesses:
Unfortunately, the emotional brain prefers to find patterns (dare we say, logic) where there is only randomness. It also likes to feel good and so it seeks to maximize rewards, especially unpredictable ones. Combining its susceptibility for invisible patterns and maximizing rewards, it can become quite excited when a slot machine, for no explainable reason, results in a win.
The emotional brain feels worse from losses than it feels good from gains. Lehrer gives an intriguing example. Credit cards alter the chemistry of our buying decisions! When we pay cash, we feel the immediate loss of money, a bad feeling. However, when we use credit cards, we feel the immediate gain of the purchased item without immediate loss (the loss is delayed). Each of these buying experiences activates a different part of the brain.
The emotional brain over-values immediate gains. While all gains feel good, immediate gains feel even better. Lehrer’s examples are fascinating. One is the temptation of subprime mortgages. The immediate gain that feels good is the buying of a house with a low fixed interest rate for the immediate future. The related loss – the higher variable interest rate – occurs in the more distant future. Therefore, the emotional brain is delighted with subprime mortgages. In fact, Lehrer points out that even people who qualified for better financial terms of conventional mortgages fell prey to the brain’s delight with immediate gain.
