People make bad decisions when they are under stress. Chronic stress impairs memory consolidation
and retrieval. Since we rely on our
memories of past decisions - especially bad decisions - in order to make sure
we don't make the same mistake again, this is a big problem. (Morgado, Sousa
& Cerqueira, 2015)
Meanwhile any stress at all changes loss-aversion patterns
and causes people to make riskier decisions This is because when we are stressed, the
portion of our brains responsible for long-term planning shuts down. And the portions of the brain responsible for
short-term gratification take over.
That's why we eat junk food when we are stressed. (Maier, Makwana &
Hare, 2015)
Unfortunately, Trump's stress is leading him to make poor life
threatening decisions - like lifting quarantine before COVID-19 infections have
even peaked. Talk about favoring
immediate gratification over long term goals.
Does he really believe that restarting the economy is worth millions of
American lives? Maybe.
Or
maybe he just needs a Big Mac.
Morgado, P., Sousa, N., & Cerqueira, J.J. (2015) The Impact
of Stress in Decision Making in the Context of Uncertainty. Journal
of Neuroscience Research. Retrieved
March 26, 2020, from
Maier, S., Makwana,
A. & Hare, T. (2015, August 5) Acute Stress Impairs Self-Control
in Goal-Directed Choice by Altering Multiple Functional Connections within the
Brain’s Decision Circuits. Neuron Retrieved June 5 2018 from https://www.cell.com/neuron/fulltext/S0896-6273(15)00627-3
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