Legal Commentary

Our gut based decisions may be better than rational thought

By David Canton

The Wired Science blog as a post entitled We Are All Talk Radio Hosts that refers to a paper based on a wide range of evidence concluding “that human reason has nothing to do with finding the truth, or locating the best alternative. Instead, it?s all about argumentation.”

Its worth a read – the strawberry jam study illustrates the point well.

Essentially, when we start thinking and analyzing about choices, we start focusing on variables that don’t really matter.  

So while making informed choices is a good thing, don’t let immaterial factors override your gut decision.   Next time you make a decision – be careful to weigh the factors, and ask yourself  if you are basing your decision on something that really matters. 

This would apply to legal advice as well.  Lawyers need to consider various risk factors and criteria to make decisions and give advice.   But we need to think about whether our advice is predicated on things that really matter to our clients.  Its about knowing your client, and about providing advice in a way that allows your client to weigh the risks.

Full post as published by eLegal Canton on August 06, 2010 (boomark / email).