Why Mental Pictures SHOULD Sway Your Moral Judgement

I thought the NPR segement "Why Mental Pictures Can Sway Your Moral Judgement" was very interesting and very true. They spoke about the two main ways that we make decisions in our lives. Either we use moral judgement and decide logically, or our emotions take over and control our decision. This wasn't new information, but what made it interesting is how they related the decision on which type of judgement to use to a battle within our brain, with the determining factor being the images evoked by the situation.

Without a picture of the situation in our minds, of course we are going to base our judgement off of the only things we know, the facts. This will lead to a logical conclusion and most likely the more rational conclusion of the two.

But when we produce a clear and vivid picture in our minds, we place ourselves directly into the situation and develop different ideas. The way that we picture things dramatically influences the way we think about them, and this is very interesting to me. Our brain determines all of this and more before we even have time to consider it fully. That is hard to believe and awesome at the same time.

Thinking about the examples in the talk as well as examples from my own life, I can't help but agree with the point they are making. When pictures come into play, emotions come into play. Emotions are what overwhelm us and can carry more weight in our decisions than anything else. Logical thinking will produce the best decision, but emotional thinking overrides our rationality.

While I do agree with this, I don't think it changes our moral judgement. I think the way our emotions impact our thinking is part of our morals, and is part of who we are. Yes we may not always make the best choices when our emotions take control, but our emotions are what make us who we are and we would be completely different without them. When I make decisions based on how I feel, it is my instinctual decision. Logic may produce the correct response, but not necessarily the right response.