Feeling smart: why our emotions are more rational than we think

289 Pages·2015·1.439 MB·English

by  Winter, Eyal

BUSINESS F $26.99/$30.00 can
Feeling Smart is for bestselling authors… E F E E L I N G “ Many suppose that the domains of emotion and
rational thought are always separate. But as this
N E
MA intriguing book demonstrates, they are wrong:
RG “ In Feeling Smart Eyal Winter shows us how the emotions that we sometimes wish we
R BE emotional sensibility makes an important contri-
DA didn’t have, such as anger and envy, can be surprisingly useful. You will certainly not be L
MA bution to rational decision making. Feeling Smart
S
less angry after reading this book, but you will better understand the focus that shapes
EYAL WINTER I S M A RT shows us how.” —LAWRENCE SUMMERS,
is professor of
your emotions.” —DAN ARIELY, bestselling author of Predictably Irrational
former president of Harvard University and former
economics and director of the Center for the N
secretary of the Treasury of the United States
Study of Rationality at the Hebrew University of
“ Eyal Winter’s breezy guide to when and why it is sometimes perfectly rational to let
Jerusalem, one of the world’s leading institutions G
the heart rule the head is as fresh as it is clever. In his brisk tour of the burgeoning
in the academic study of decision making. He WHICH IS SMARTER—
fi eld of experimental economics, Professor Winter shows that sense and sensibility
served as chairman of the economics department are complements rather than polar opposites, and proves his point with intriguing Why Our Emotions Are YOUR HEAD OR YOUR GUT?
at Hebrew University and was the 2011 recipient
S
insights into hot-button issues like affi rmative action and the Arab-Israeli confl ict.
of the Humboldt Prize, awarded by the govern-
More Rational Than We Think
Feeling Smart will leave you feeling not only smarter, but more optimistic as well.” IT’S A FAMILIAR REFRAIN: you’re getting
M
ment of the Federal Republic of Germany. He has
—SYLVIA NASAR, author of A Beautiful Mind too emotional. Try and think rationally. But is it
lectured at over 130 universities in 26 countries
always good advice?
around the world, including Harvard University,
A
In this surprising book, Eyal Winter asks a
Stanford University, Princeton University, the
…and for Nobel Prize winners simple question: why do we have emotions? If they
University of California at Berkeley, and the Uni-
R
lead to such bad decisions, why hasn’t evolution
versity of Cambridge.
long since made emotions irrelevant? The answer
“ It is a pleasure to follow Eyal Winter as he explores the deep logic of illogical emotions
T
is that, even though they may not behave in a
and helps us to see the rationality of irrational behavior.” —ROGER MYERSON,
purely logical manner, our emotions frequently
Nobel Laureate in Economics
lead us to better, safer, more optimal outcomes.
In fact, as Winter discovers, there is often logic
“ Much like Sigmund Freud, Eyal Winter knows that understanding human behavior
in emotion, and emotion in logic. For instance,
demands listening and observing rather than labeling and categorizing. But here’s
many mutually benefi cial commitments—such as
what Freud didn’t know: that framing his fi ndings in the rigorous language of eco-
marriage, or being a member of a team—are only
nomic theory would be so illuminating, so surprising, and so exciting.” possible when underscored by emotion rather than
—ROBERT LUCAS, Nobel Laureate in Economics W deliberate thought. The difference between plea-
E YA L
E surable music and bad noise is mathematically
I
N Y precise; yet it is also something we feel at an
More praise inside…
T A instinctive level. And even though people are usually
JACKET DESIGN: PETE GARCEAU
JACKET PHOTOGRAPH © DREAMSTIME IMAGES $26.99/$30.00 can E L overconfi dent—how can we all be above aver-
R age?—we often benefi t from our arrogance.
W I N T E R
Feeling Smart brings together game theory,
AVAILABLE AS AN E-BOOK evolution, and behavioral science to produce a sur-
VISIT WWW.PUBLICAFFAIRSBOOKS.COM prising and very persuasive defense of how we
FOLLOW @PUBLIC_AFFAIRS ON TWITTER www.publicaffairsbooks.com think, even when we don’t.
PRAISE FOR Feeling Smart
“Feeling Smart puts the social back into social science. The
truth is that there’s a touchy feely aspect of Game Theory, and
Winter shows how expressing and understanding your feel-
ings (and those around you) will help you become a far better
strategist. Be smarter or be smarting, your call.”
—BARRY NALEBUFF, Milton Steinbach Professor, Yale School
of Management, and coauthor of The Art of Strategy
“We are used to thinking that emotions such as anger, love,
insult, and so forth are irrational. In his new book, Eyal Win-
ter explains why these emotions are actually very rational,
fulfi lling important functions that usually advance the most
vital interests of each of us. This is an important, enjoyable,
and convincing book.”
—ROBERT J. AUMANN, Nobel Laureate in Economics
“Eyal Winter, a distinguished game theorist and behavioral
economist, writes about rationality and emotion with compas-
sion and empathy.”
—ALVIN ROTH, Nobel Laureate in Economics
“Eyal Winter has written engagingly on the science of action
and emotion; on why and how feelings make us smarter and
are central to understanding rational action and interaction in
processes of human betterment that are subtly inaccessible to
our self-aware consciousness.”
—VERNON SMITH, Nobel Laureate in Economics
“Emotions and rationality are often thought of as polar oppo-
sites. But Eyal Winter—a leading game theorist and economist—
shows compellingly that emotions can actually promote rational
behavior. His book makes fascinating reading.”
—ERIC MASKIN, Nobel Laureate in Economics
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“Eyal Winter’s book admirably draws together the impor-
tant recent work on social and individual behavior and its im-
plications for economic behavior. He shows clearly how the
more traditional rational analysis remains an important part
of explanation, but is by no means adequate. His exposition is
breezily informal, yet rigorous; accounts from his family join
seamlessly with citations on the literature, to which he himself
has made signifi cant contributions.”
—KENNETH ARROW, Nobel Laureate in Economics
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FEELING
SMART
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FEELING
SMART
Why Our Emotions Are More Rational Than We Think
Eyal Winter
PUBLICAFFAIRS
NEW YORK
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Copyright © 2014 by Eyal Winter
Published in 2012 in Hebrew in Israel by Zmora Bitan
Published in 2014 in the United States by PublicAffairs™,
a Member of the Perseus Books Group
All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever
without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied
in critical articles and reviews. For information, address PublicAffairs,
250 West 57th Street, 15th Floor, New York, NY 10107.
PublicAffairs books are available at special discounts for bulk purchases
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[phone], ext. 5000, or e-mail [email protected].
Book Design by Linda Mark
Text set in ITC Galliard 11.5 pt by the Perseus Books Group
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Winter, Eyal.
[Regashot ratsyonaliyim. English]
Feeling smart : why our emotions are more rational than we think /
Eyal Winter.—First edition.
pages cm
“Published in 2012 in Hebrew in Israel, by Zmora Bitan.”
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-61039-490-1 (hardcover : alk. paper)—
ISBN 978-1-61039-491-8 (e-book : alk. paper)
1. Decision making. 2. Emotions. 3. Emotions and cognition.
4. Reason. I. Title.
BF448.W56413 2015
152.4—dc23
2014036706
First Edition
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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Dedicated to my wife Atalia,
who is both my emotional and my rational compass

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CONTENTS
Preface ix
Introduction: What Is Rationality? xv
PART I: ON ANGER AND COMMITMENT
CHAPTER 1: What Is the Point of Getting Annoyed? Emotions
as a Mechanism for Creating Commitments 3
CHAPTER 2: Why We Love Those Who Are Cruel to Us:
Stockholm Syndrome and the Story of
the Nazi Schoolteacher 12
CHAPTER 3: Emotional Impostors, Empathy, and
Uncle Ezra’s Poker Face 18
CHAPTER 4: Game Theory, Emotions, and the Golden
Rule of Ethics 31
CHAPTER 5: The Prisoner’s Dilemma in Repeated Interactions:
Do Drawn Knives Increase Cooperation in the World? 38
CHAPTER 6: On Decency, Insult, and Revenge:
Why Don’t Suckers Suffer from Disgust? 51
PART II: ON TRUST AND GENEROSITY
CHAPTER 7: On Stigmas and Games of Trust:
Why Did the Bees Commit Suicide? 61
CHAPTER 8: Self-Fulfi lling Mistrust 69
CHAPTER 9: Cultural Differences, Palestinian Generosity,
and Ruth’s Mysterious Disappearance 73
vii
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