The role emotions play in rational choice theories

by | May 9, 2025 | Marketing

 

 

What role does emotions play in rational choice theories?

What are the policy implications of biosocial theories? How can biosocial theories be misused?

 

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Dante Alighieri played a critical role in the literature world through his poem Divine Comedy that was written in the 14th century. The poem contains Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. The Inferno is a description of the nine circles of torment that are found on the earth. It depicts the realms of the people that have gone against the spiritual values and who, instead, have chosen bestial appetite, violence, or fraud and malice. The nine circles of hell are limbo, lust, gluttony, greed and wrath. Others are heresy, violence, fraud, and treachery. The purpose of this paper is to examine the Dante’s Inferno in the perspective of its portrayal of God’s image and the justification of hell. 

In this epic poem, God is portrayed as a super being guilty of multiple weaknesses including being egotistic, unjust, and hypocritical. Dante, in this poem, depicts God as being more human than divine by challenging God’s omnipotence. Additionally, the manner in which Dante describes Hell is in full contradiction to the morals of God as written in the Bible. When god arranges Hell to flatter Himself, He commits egotism, a sin that is common among human beings (Cheney, 2016). The weakness is depicted in Limbo and on the Gate of Hell where, for instance, God sends those who do not worship Him to Hell. This implies that failure to worship Him is a sin.


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God is also depicted as lacking justice in His actions thus removing the godly image. The injustice is portrayed by the manner in which the sodomites and opportunists are treated. The opportunists are subjected to banner chasing in their lives after death followed by being stung by insects and maggots. They are known to having done neither good nor bad during their lifetimes and, therefore, justice could have demanded that they be granted a neutral punishment having lived a neutral life. The sodomites are also punished unfairly by God when Brunetto Lattini is condemned to hell despite being a good leader (Babor, T. F., McGovern, T., & Robaina, K. (2017). While he commited sodomy, God chooses to ignore all the other good deeds that Brunetto did.

Finally, God is also portrayed as being hypocritical in His actions, a sin that further diminishes His godliness and makes Him more human. A case in point is when God condemns the sin of egotism and goes ahead to commit it repeatedly. Proverbs 29:23 states that “arrogance will bring your downfall, but if you are humble, you will be respected.” When Slattery condemns Dante’s human state as being weak, doubtful, and limited, he is proving God’s hypocrisy because He is also human (Verdicchio, 2015). The actions of God in Hell as portrayed by Dante are inconsistent with the Biblical literature. Both Dante and God are prone to making mistakes, something common among human beings thus making God more human.

To wrap it up, Dante portrays God is more human since He commits the same sins that humans commit: egotism, hypocrisy, and injustice. Hell is justified as being a destination for victims of the mistakes committed by God. The Hell is presented as being a totally different place as compared to what is written about it in the Bible. As a result, reading through the text gives an image of God who is prone to the very mistakes common to humans thus ripping Him off His lofty status of divine and, instead, making Him a mere human. Whether or not Dante did it intentionally is subject to debate but one thing is clear in the poem: the misconstrued notion of God is revealed to future generations.

 

References

Babor, T. F., McGovern, T., & Robaina, K. (2017). Dante’s inferno: Seven deadly sins in scientific publishing and how to avoid them. Addiction Science: A Guide for the Perplexed, 267.

Cheney, L. D. G. (2016). Illustrations for Dante’s Inferno: A Comparative Study of Sandro Botticelli, Giovanni Stradano, and Federico Zuccaro. Cultural and Religious Studies, 4(8), 487.

Verdicchio, M. (2015). Irony and Desire in Dante’s” Inferno” 27. Italica, 285-297.

The Role of Emotions in Rational Choice Theories

Traditionally, rational choice theory often viewed emotions as irrational forces that could cloud judgment and lead to suboptimal decisions. The core assumption was that individuals make choices based on a logical evaluation of costs and benefits to maximize their utility. Emotions were seen as deviations from this purely cognitive process, introducing bias and inconsistency.  

However, more contemporary perspectives within behavioral economics and related fields acknowledge a more nuanced and significant role for emotions in rational choice. Instead of being purely antithetical to rationality, emotions can:  

  • Provide Information and Signals: Emotions can act as heuristics or shortcuts, providing quick assessments of situations. For example, fear can signal danger, prompting rapid avoidance behavior that might be evolutionarily rational for survival.  
  • Influence Preferences and Values: Emotions can shape what individuals value and desire. For instance, empathy might lead someone to prioritize altruistic actions, which become “rational” within their emotional framework of values.  

The Role of Emotions in Rational Choice Theories

Traditionally, rational choice theory often viewed emotions as irrational forces that could cloud judgment and lead to suboptimal decisions. The core assumption was that individuals make choices based on a logical evaluation of costs and benefits to maximize their utility. Emotions were seen as deviations from this purely cognitive process, introducing bias and inconsistency.  

However, more contemporary perspectives within behavioral economics and related fields acknowledge a more nuanced and significant role for emotions in rational choice. Instead of being purely antithetical to rationality, emotions can:  

  • Provide Information and Signals: Emotions can act as heuristics or shortcuts, providing quick assessments of situations. For example, fear can signal danger, prompting rapid avoidance behavior that might be evolutionarily rational for survival.  
  • Influence Preferences and Values: Emotions can shape what individuals value and desire. For instance, empathy might lead someone to prioritize altruistic actions, which become “rational” within their emotional framework of values.  
  • Drive Motivation: Emotions can provide the impetus for action. Anger might motivate someone to seek justice, even if a purely rational cost-benefit analysis might suggest otherwise. Joy can reinforce behaviors and encourage repetition.  
  • Facilitate Social Decision-Making: Emotions play a crucial role in social interactions, signaling intentions, building trust, and enforcing social norms. These social considerations often factor into rational choices in interpersonal contexts.  
  • Bound Rationality: Given cognitive limitations and time constraints, emotions can help individuals focus on relevant information and make “good enough” decisions rather than striving for perfect rationality in every situation.

Therefore, the modern view often integrates emotions as inputs or influences within the rational choice framework, rather than simply dismissing them as noise. The idea is that individuals may act “rationally” given their emotional state and the information it provides. Some theories even propose an “emotional rationality,” where emotions themselves can be seen as serving adaptive and logical purposes in certain contexts.  

Policy Implications of Biosocial Theories

Biosocial theories, which integrate biological and environmental factors to explain behavior (including crime, health outcomes, and social behaviors), have several potential policy implications:

  • Early Intervention Programs: Identifying biological or genetic predispositions early in life, combined with understanding environmental risk factors, could lead to targeted early intervention programs focused on mitigating negative developmental trajectories. This might include nutritional support, early childhood education, and interventions addressing family environment or exposure to toxins.  
  • Risk Assessment and Management: Biosocial factors could be incorporated into risk assessment tools in various fields, such as criminal justice or healthcare. Identifying individuals with a higher biological or genetic vulnerability to certain behaviors or conditions could inform preventative measures or tailored management strategies.  
  • Personalized Interventions: Recognizing the interplay between biology and environment suggests that interventions should be personalized to address both individual biological factors and their specific environmental contexts. This could lead to more effective treatment approaches in mental health, addiction, and criminal rehabilitation.
  • Public Health Initiatives: Understanding the biological basis of certain health behaviors or vulnerabilities within specific populations could inform targeted public health campaigns and preventative measures. For example, nutritional policies or interventions addressing environmental toxins might be particularly relevant for certain genetically predisposed groups.
  • Educational Strategies: Tailoring educational approaches to consider biological factors influencing learning and behavior could lead to more effective learning environments and outcomes.

How Biosocial Theories Can Be Misused

Despite their potential benefits, biosocial theories carry significant risks of misuse if not applied ethically and with careful consideration:

  • Biological Determinism and Genetic Essentialism: A major danger is interpreting biosocial findings as deterministic, suggesting that biology or genes inevitably lead to certain outcomes. This ignores the crucial role of environmental factors and individual agency, potentially leading to fatalistic views and a lack of investment in social interventions.
  • Eugenics and Social Control: Historically, biological theories have been misused to justify discriminatory practices like eugenics, forced sterilization, and segregation based on perceived biological inferiority. Biosocial theories, if misinterpreted, could be used to support similar harmful policies aimed at controlling or “improving” populations based on biological traits.  
  • Racial and Ethnic Bias: Research in biosocial areas can be susceptible to racial and ethnic biases if not conducted with extreme care and cultural sensitivity. Misinterpreting genetic or biological differences between groups could lead to harmful stereotypes and discriminatory policies.  
  • Focus on the Individual at the Expense of Systemic Factors: Overemphasizing biological predispositions might divert attention and resources away from addressing crucial systemic factors like poverty, inequality, and discrimination that significantly influence behavior and outcomes.
  • Labeling and Stigmatization: Identifying biological risk factors could lead to the labeling and stigmatization of individuals or groups, potentially affecting their opportunities and self-perception. For example, labeling a child as having a “genetic predisposition to aggression” could negatively influence how they are treated and how they see themselves.  
  • Over-Medicalization of Social Problems: Biosocial perspectives could lead to the over-medicalization of social problems, framing issues like crime or poverty solely as biological or medical conditions requiring biological or medical solutions, neglecting social and structural solutions.  
  • Privacy Concerns and Data Misuse: Research involving biological data (genetic information, brain scans, etc.) raises significant privacy concerns. This data could be misused for discriminatory purposes by insurance companies, employers, or law enforcement agencies.  

To mitigate these risks, it is crucial that biosocial research is conducted with rigorous ethical oversight, emphasizes the interaction between biology and environment, avoids deterministic interpretations, and is accompanied by robust social and ethical discussions about its implications for policy and practice. Policy decisions based on biosocial findings must prioritize individual rights, social justice, and avoid perpetuating historical patterns of discrimination.

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