Saturday, April 14, 2007

For Laura

So, it is often believed that rationality and emotion are two opposing systems. And that men are more rational in their decision making and women more emotional. The rational methods are implied to be superior.

However, I was reading in my Economist about studies in brain lesions, including one by Dr. Antonio Damasio who studied a patient named Elliot. Elliot lost the ability to feel emotions and became obsessed with detail and stopped being able to make sensible decisions. He could summarise the choices available in a given situation, but without his emotions to guide him he couldn't make a choice.

Anyway, I thought Laura would quite appreciate that!

No comments: