A recent study seems to suggest that we often make decisions before we are conscience of making up our minds. It makes sense to me, when you think that self-awareness evolved late in the game. Perhaps self-awareness is primarily useful for building accurate models of the world – perhaps it is useful in building cohesive social networks – but it does not seem to be central to decision making.
This reinforces the idea of “gut reactions” and “sleeping on it.” We have very efficient decision-making skills that predate self-awareness. Self awareness adds a mental model of the world we live in and the importance of social relationships and cultural factors. Our decision-making ability may ignore all of that – which is why a gut reaction can be refreshing, ruthless, inappropriate… in short, it is a decision without regards for social status or “big-picture” ramifications. Literally, cutting through the Gordian knot, because it is an immediate solution not open to anyone who censors their instincts by their social and political awareness.
So self-awareness adds a social and ethical dimension to our decision-making. Who knows, perhaps our social and ethical ideas, our “big picture” models of how the world works can also inform our “gut reactions” – but then again, maybe they can’t. This would go a long way in helping us understand why we have such a hard time aligning our actions with our ideals – our gut is constantly short-circuiting our ethics, and offering clear decisions that may not align with how the world really works, or the larger realities (about which our intuition knows nothing).
If this is true, it might help us understand why wise men are also hermits – because they can align their intuition with their lifestyle, without running afoul of the complications of civilization.
