I’ve always wondered how we make decisions when there are several options to choose from. Situations as simple as to buy product A or product B, or to escape from prison or not, there must be a reason behind the choices we make insofar as there must be a tangible logic behind this ‘reasoning’.
Today, I happened to be in a pet shop and I was observing the behaviour of people while they make decisions on their purchase. Being an eavesdropper, I listened to the conversations between the promoters and the customers (Well, it’s not against the law). I realised that the words ‘fear’, ’scared’ and ‘worried’ popped up in the conversation at numerous occasions. It appears that customers are concerned and worried of the various risks and inconveniences that may happen in the future (Assuming that the customer is moderately price-sensitive).
Risk is a complicated and yet tedious matter to understand, however our lack of understanding is compromised by our in-build cognitive decision maker – our brains. Ironically, this ingeniously designed feature varies from one individual to another, causing variation on how people perceive and manage risk. I was watching this programme “One way out” on television one night and it opened my mind to the different sources people seek pleasure from. The programme shows an escape artist who doesn’t mind putting himself through gruesome amount of pain to achieve the thrill of escaping. We call him a masochist, he calls it science.
Let us now exclude the minority who seeks happiness through risk taking.
Why do we respond to risk? According to the principle of existentialism, we realise that we are fully responsible for our own actions through the feelings of angst or anguish. Consider yourself being on top of a mountain and you feel lazy to walk down the mountain. You have 2 options, to jump down the mountain at 9.80665ms-2 or to take the longer way down by walking. Although the analogy is flawed in practicality, the theme of this concept is “fear” and how we steer away from it.
How do you manage your fears? Is fear a barrier to the things you wished you would do?
oh my gosh! I’m linking you to my blog… this is too much to give up!