Theoretically, humans are the only animals that have emotions. Of course, anyone that has a pet dog knows that is not true. Instinctively by nature, animals use logic in making their decisions. Fire, for example, is to be avoided at all cost. Yet, that dog will ignore the logical danger and rescue its human master from a burning building maybe out of a sense of loyalty, honor and duty or just acting on instinct to protect a loved one.
However, we humans should be smart enough to know when emotions should rule our thoughts and when logic should be on top. Unfortunately, that is not the case and 10 minutes on social media easily proves the point.
Classic English author of the novel Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte, wrote: “Better to be without logic than without feeling.” That is fitting, since no one in her iconic book makes any decisions based on logic and common sense but virtually always on “feelings”.
The American motivational speaker and author of the book How to Win Friends and Influence People, Dale Carnegie, wrote, “When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but creatures of emotion.” And that is the point.
Carnegie’s real name was spelled “Carnagey” but changed the spelling after the world famous industrialist of that time, Andrew Carnegie, to increase his credibility. Dale Carnegie is now viewed as the icon of motivational speakers, but as are all of this type, they are selling something—books and training courses. And their selling techniques are based on what Carnegie taught—emotion, not logic.
In politics, it is all emotional selling. Donald Trump, among many other US politicians, accuses “evil” China of manipulation of its currency. Of course, China manipulates, just like every other major nation. Japan’s Prime Minster Abe was elected in 2012 on the promise to move (manipulate) the Japanese yen from 78 to 120 to the US dollar. The only difference is that China does not announce its currency manipulation in advance.
But that “evil China” idea, in spite of the facts, makes a strong emotional political argument.
Social-media users question how President Duterte can go to Japan right after visiting China when “Japan is anti-China”. Japan cannot be too “anti-China” since China is Japan’s largest trading partner, exporting virtually the same amount to China as it does to the US. Further, Japan imports from China almost as much as it does from its other top 9 partners combined. But the facts of the territorial tensions in the region also make good emotional political arguments.
The experts say trading on the local stock market is influenced by this or that economic data from the US or China. But the correlation of local stock-price movement and economic conditions abroad is never made. There is a built-in emotional response to this information that apparently does not need any logical explanation. If it’s foreign, it must be important.
Do not be swayed that a list of numbers or charts on a page are facts rather than being there for an emotional appeal. Factual data can be massaged and manipulated just as easily as the stories in a Victorian novel to tug your heartstrings and not to increase your knowledge. The reality is that in the battle between emotion and logic, emotion always wins.
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E-mail me at mangun@gmail.com. Visit my web site at www.mangunonmarkets.com. Follow me on Twitter @mangunonmarkets. PSE stock-market information and technical analysis tools provided by the COL Financial Group Inc.