Passion rather than reason governs decisions

The Scottish enlightenment philosopher David Hume in 1739-40 provided the foundations of social science, where he invented what in the introduction of ‘A treatise on human nature’ he calls “the science of man” or the science of human nature. The principles of human nature are also called “principles of the soul” – the psyche - from the Greek psykhe, which means “the soul, mind, spirit, or invisible animating entity which occupies the physical body.”

He famously said "reason is and ought only to be the slave to the passions“. Hume argues [rightly as it is revealed by neuroscience] that passion rather than reason governs decisions.

This is particularly important to note when marketing technology or engineering products and services. It is my experience that even the most hard core engineers are not excluded from this – contrary to their belief.

Early in my career? while pitching to the board of a satellite telecoms company I began my presentation talking about the importance of emotions in decision making and I was stopped in my tracks by the CEO – who said to me that “in his company there were no emotions, emotions were not relevant they were a technology and engineering company and if I didn’t change the subject the meeting was over…”

It was then that I had a light bulb moment – if the all-male c-suite team in the room were not guided by their passions and emotions in their decision making then why were they all wearing branded shirts, writing with Mont Blanc pens and parking their BMWs in the parking lot? Paradoxically this denial of their emotions made them the most vulnerable to emotional persuasion – it’s a fact - communicating with passion in even the most technical of markets is key.

The role of emotions in our decision making is not a ‘nice to have’ it is essential.

Let me show you how it works.

If asked to pick a coloured pencil, any pencil you imagine that the choice you made is arbitrary. Not so fast. In fact the decision itself is born in the amygdala, the emotional centre of the brain and linked to emotional connections from the subconscious.

Now try and think why you chose that colour it could be anything… but it will always be something - political persuasion, favourite childhood toy, a favourite location or national colour…

You are unaware of this connection and yet without it you would be unable to decide at all. The amygdala is especially important for decision-making, by triggering autonomic responses to emotional stimuli.

Patients with amygdala damage lack these autonomic responses, and consequently, cannot connect to emotional cues to guide decision-making. It is why those with brain damage to the emotional centres of the brain are unable to make any decisions. When confronted by the choice of cheese in the chiller cabinet they are faced with an infinite regress of decision options and have decision paralysis.

Hume’s thesis would today be called psychology, although that term did not come into general use until long after Hume. In the body of his Treatise he discusses different powers of the soul or mind, such as the senses, reason, imagination, and the passions. The connection between these emotions and decisions is essential to our very survival. And the people who manage these passions the best and drive that change are the true marketing leaders.