Damasio's Somatic Marker Hypothesis
Damasio's proposal that bodily states attached to past outcomes get re-evoked as options are considered, steering choice before conscious reasoning.
An everyday example
Card players in the Iowa Gambling Task began sweating before risky decks before they could say why those decks were bad.
What it can cost you
Treating a 'somatic marker' as a reliable oracle; the markers encode past experience, which may not match the present case.
Warning signs
- I know how I feel about the option but cannot say what it resembles.
- I trust the feeling more than the facts I have not checked yet.
One thing to do
Use the marker as a prompt to look harder, not as an answer: when a choice feels bad, list the past experiences it resembles and check whether they actually apply.
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