How We Decide: Sometimes, emotions suck

In my previous post on How We Decide, I played up dopamine to be the coolest thing ever, just like Jonah Lehrer did. Now, I'm going to go off his next move - the notion that sometimes, dopamine SUCKS. Dopamine is great for predicting patterns that can actually happen. When we are faced with randomness, dopamine still tries to do its thing, which can hurt us if we follow its lead. One of the best examples of this coming into play is the casino. A lot of casino games are left to chance - the reason that people spend hours in front of a table or machine is because of the simple pleasure of winning every once in a while. Losing is okay, as long as we win every now and then, all the lights go on, and noises ring throughout the room. In the moment, it's fun, but when you look back on your winnings, you might not find any.

Think about roulette. Whether or not you win money is dependent solely on a little white ball. The ball has no idea where it'll fall, and neither do you - it could land on black fifty times in a row, and it would still be just as likely to land on red as it ever was. People KNOW this, too! But it doesn't stop them. Because they "have a feeling." The simple solution to this is to not even venture near tables of chance - roulette, craps, slots. Much better to go after something you can at least moderately control, like blackjack. Yes, the draw of the cards is still random, but how you play those cards is up to you. You can use chance for you, instead of trying to win despite it. Especially because there's a strategy that you can follow like a robot, negating the need for emotions. Yes, it's awesome when we win, but if we expect to win more than we lose, it's business as usual. It's when we don't expect something good to happen that gives us the largest reward in the pleasure center of our brains when something good does happen. Unexpected rewards are much stronger than expected ones. The consequence of unexpected rewards, however, is that they come with significantly more losses.

So yes, sometimes we can trust our gut too much - when there's an opportunity to have a rational, thought-out, systematic strategy, then go for it. Especially if chance is involved. At least in the casino world, the more you can control, the better.