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The Ethical Dangers of Rational Decision Making1 The Ethical Dangers of Rational Decision MakingChen-Bo ZhongNorthwestern Universitycbzhong@northwestern.edu Finalist for the “Excellence in Ethics” Dissertation Proposal Competition, 2005
 
The Ethical Dangers of Rational Decision Making2AbstractMy dissertation explores the rational and emotional foundations of ethical decisionmaking. Traditional research has associated ethical superiority with an analytic, rationaldecision-making process and has suggested that emotions (e.g., empathy or anger)undermine ethics because they lead people to breach important ethical principles (e.g.,the norm of impartiality). In contrast, my dissertation suggests that rational decisionmaking may actually
license
unethical behavior when it reduces the experience of certainemotions such as guilt. Consequently, rational decision making may support ethics insome situations, but interfere with it in others. Thus, rational decision-making can act as adouble-edged sword, making it particularly important to consider the effects of individual’s emotions on the ethical implications of being rational.
 
The Ethical Dangers of Rational Decision Making3The Ethical Dangers of Rational Decision MakingThe decision-making literature is heavily marked by the construct of rationality.Although there are dozens of definitions of rationality (March, 1978), being rational usuallymeans acting wisely and efficiently to choose the appropriate means to advance one’s goals(Etzioni, 1988). Neoclassical economic theories, for example, assume that individuals knowwhat is best for them (i.e., utility) and seek to maximize utility with certainty, or expected utilitywith uncertainty. Although the notion that individuals can maximize their utility has beenextensively modified (see Kahneman, 1991; Simon, 1947), the prescriptive nature of rationaltheories, that individuals should intend to be rational during decision-making, has, with a fewexceptions (Etzioni, 1988), received less challenge.Unsurprisingly, the dominance of the rational model in the decision-making literatureminimizes the role of emotion, often equating emotion as the opposite of reason. The Stoicphilosophers, for example, viewed emotion as a conceptual error that binds individuals to thematerial world and to a life of misery (Solomon, 1993). Even though the contemporary view of emotion is less extreme, emotions are nevertheless considered epiphenomenal—that is, notintegral to the decision-making process (Loewenstein, Weber, Hsee, and Welch, 2001).The opposition between the rational model and emotion is more than just a theoreticaldebate. It also reflects a competition between two fundamentally different modes of informationprocessing—analytic and rational processing versus heuristic and intuitive processing (Epstein,1983; Epstein, 1991; Epstein, Pacini, Denes-Raj, & Heier, 1996). The rational system operatesprimarily at the conscious level and is intentional, analytic, primarily verbal, and relativelyemotion free. The intuitive system is assumed to be automatic, preconscious, holistic,associationistic, primarily nonverbal, and intimately associated with emotion or affect. These two
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