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Irrationality

Irrationality is cognition , thinking, talking or actingwithout inclusion of rationality . It is more specically de-scribed as an action or opinion given through inadequateuse of reason, emotional distress, or cognitive deciency.The term is used, usually pejoratively, to describe think-ing and actions that are, or appear to be, less useful, ormore illogical than other more rational alternatives. [1][2]

Irrational behaviors of individuals include taking offenseor becoming angry about a situation that has not yet oc-curred, expressing emotions exaggeratedly (such as cry-ing hysterically), maintaining unrealistic expectations,engaging in irresponsible conduct such as problem intox-ication, disorganization, or extravagance, and falling vic-tim to condence tricks . People with a mental illness likeschizophrenia may exhibit irrational paranoia .

These more contemporary normative conceptions ofwhat constitutes a manifestation of irrationality are dif-cult to demonstrate empirically because it is not clearby whose standards we are to judge the behavior rationalor irrational. Irrationality, historically speaking, is an out-come of the ancient Greek separation of rationality (lo-gos) from emotion and sensuality as the sources of falseassumptions and statements.

1 Explanation of occurrence

The study of irrational behavior is of interest in eldssuch as psychology , cognitive science , economics , gametheory , and evolutionary psychology , as well as of prac-tical interest to the practitioners of advertising andpropaganda .

Theories of irrational behavior include:

Peoples actual interests differ from what theybelieve to be their interests.

Mechanisms that have evolved to give optimal be-havior in normal conditions lead to irrational behav-ior in abnormal conditions.

Situations are outside of ones ordinary circum-stances, where one may experience intense levels offear, or may regress to a ght-or-ight mentality.

People fail to realize the irrationality of their actionsand believe they are acting perfectly rationally, pos-sibly due to aws in their reasoning.

Apparently irrational decisions are actually optimal,but made unconsciously on the basis of hidden in-terests that are not known to the conscious mind .

People have the inability to comprehend the socialconsequences of ones own actions, possibly due inpart to a lack of empathy .

Some people nd themselves in this condition by liv-ing double lives. They try to put on one mask

for one group of people and another for a differentgroup of people. Many will become confused as towhich they really are or which they wish to become.

Factors which affect rational behavior include:

Stress , which in turn may be emotional or physical

The introduction of a new or unique situation

Intoxication

Peers who convey irrational thoughts as necessarystandards for social acceptance.

2 Intentional irrationality

Irrationality is not always viewed as a negative. DadaSurrealist art movements embraced irrationality as ameans to reject reason and logic. Andr Breton , forexample, argued for a rejection of pure logic and reasonwhich are seen as responsible for many contemporary so-

cial problems.[3]

In science ction literature, the progress of pure rational-ity is viewed as a quality which may lead civilization ul-timately toward a scientic future dependent on technol-ogy. Irrationality in this case, is a positive factor whichhelps to balance excessive reason.

In psychology, excessive rationality without creativitymay be viewed as a form of self-control and protection.Certain problems, such as death and loss, may have no ra-tional solution when they are being experienced. We mayseek logical explanations for such events, when in fact theproper emotional response is grief. Irrationality is thus a

means of freeing the mind toward purely imaginative so-lutions, to break out of historic patterns of dependenceinto new patterns that allow one to move on.

1

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-controlhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A9_Bretonhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surrealisthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dadahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stress_(medicine)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empathyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mindhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unconsciouslyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fight-or-flighthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panichttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beliefhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interestshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propagandahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advertisinghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolutionary_psychologyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_theoryhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_theoryhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economicshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_sciencehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychologyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paranoiahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schizophreniahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mental_illnesshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confidence_trickhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rationalityhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognition

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2 7 SEE ALSO

3 Irrationalist

Irrationalist is a wide term. It may be applied to meanone without rationality ", for their beliefs or ideas. Or,more precisely, it may mean someone who openly rejectssome aspect of rationalism , variously dened. It can beseen as either a negative quality, used pejoratively, or apositive quality: For example, religious faith may vari-ably be seen by some as a virtue which doesn't need to berational (see deism ), while others (even of the same re-ligious tradition) may view their faiths as being rational,favoring rationalism .

Also, it might be considered irrationalist to gamble or buya lottery ticket , on the basis that the expected value isnegative.

In contemporary philosophy irrationalism is, inspiredby Hindu andBuddhist philosophies, emerging into a new

growing school of thought in which the importance of ourintuitive capability is stressed.

Irrational thought was seen in Europe as part of thereaction against Continental rationalism . For example,Johann Georg Hamann is sometimes classied as an irra-tionalist.

4 In philosophy

Greek Philosophy established a fundamental differentia-

tion between logical true assumptions of the universeand irrational false statements or mere opinions basedon emotion or sensorial experience. The German culturalhistorian Silvio Vietta has shown that Greek philosophythus founded a dual cultural system based on rational-ity as the domain of philosophy and science versus ir-rational emotion and sensuality as domains of literatureand art. [4][5] Since the irrational emotions as stirred up inliterature threaten the rationality of human beings, Platoexpelled poets from the state.

In the later history of philosophy this opposition of ratio-nality and the irrational was renewed as a methodological

differentiation by Descartes , but reversed by Pascal in hisstatement: Le coeur a ses raisons, que la raison ne con-nait point (The heart has its reasons which reason doesnot know). [6] Pascal thus asserted a specic rationality ofthe irrational emotions. The Philosophy of Sensualism(John Locke , among others) underlined the importanceof the senses as the source of human perception and cog-nition.

Kierkegaard gave some remit to irrationality in his Con-cluding Scientic Postscript to the Philosophical Frag-ments , where he claimed that 'Subjectivity is Truth'.Rather than allowing reason to do our choosing for us,

Kierkegaard argued that irrational leaps of faith couldbe more useful, as they were more authentic (although,he never used the word 'authentic') , and thus gave more

meaning to life. Objectivity, like reason, was opposed tosubjectivity, and thus could not be said to give any mean-ing to anyones life. Although he never dismissed ratio-nalityin itsentirety, Kierkegaardargued that wecould notallow rationality to make our decisions for us. In this, andto some degree, he offers a vindication of irrationally.

5 In literature

Much subject matter in literature can be seen as anexpression of human longing for the irrational. TheRomantics valued irrationality over what they perceivedas the sterile, calculating and emotionless philosophywhich they thought to have been brought about by theAge of Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution .[7]

The Dadaists and Surrealists later used irrationality as abasis for their art. The disregard of reason and prefer-ence for dream states in Surrealism was an exaltation ofthe irrational and the rejection of logic.

Mythology nearly always incorporates elements of fan-tasy and the supernatural; however myths are largely ac-cepted by the societies that create them, and only cometo be seen as irrational through the spyglass of timeand by other cultures. But though mythology serves asa way to rationalize the universe in symbolic and of-ten anthropomorphic ways, a pre-rational and irrationalway of thinking can be seen as tacitly valued in mythol-ogys supremacy of the imagination, where rationality asa philosophical method has not been developed.

On the other side the irrational is often depicted from arational point of view in all types of literature, provokingamusement, contempt, disgust, hatred, awe, and manyother reactions.

6 In psychotherapy

The term irrational is often used in psychotherapy andthe concept of irrationality is especially known in rationalemotive behavior therapy originated and developed by

American psychologist Albert Ellis . In this approach,the term irrational is used in a slightly different waythan in general. Here irrationality is dened as the ten-dency and leaning that humans have to act, emote andthink in ways that are inexible, unrealistic, absolutistand most importantly self-defeating and socially defeat-ing and destructive. [8]

7 See also

Amygdala hijack

Behavioral economics

Bounded rationality

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bounded_rationalityhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavioral_economicshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amygdala_hijackhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Ellis_(psychologist)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rational_emotive_behavior_therapyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rational_emotive_behavior_therapyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychotherapyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surrealismhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_Revolutionhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_Enlightenmenthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanticismhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authenticity_(philosophy)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kierkegaardhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lockehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Descarteshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Georg_Hamannhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_rationalismhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expected_valuehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lottery_tickethttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rationalismhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fideismhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_faithhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rationalismhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rationality

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3

Cognitive Bias

Dysrationalia

Irrationalism and Aestheticism

Logical Fallacy

Optimism bias

Rationality and power

Self-serving bias

Rational irrationality

8 Notes[1] Mead, Margaret. Male and Female: The Classic Study

of the Sexes (1949) Quill (HarperCollins) 1998 edition:ISBN 0-688-14676-7

[2] Fletcher, Joyce (March 1994). Castrating the FemaleAdvantage: Feminist Standpoint Research and Manage-ment Science. Journal of Management Inquiry 3 (1): 7482.

[3] Breton, Andr (1999) [First published 1924]. Manifestoof Surrealism . ScreenSite. Archived from the original on2009-01-01. Retrieved 2014-01-29.

[4] Silvio Vietta (2013). A Theory of Global Civilization: Ra-tionalityand the Irrational as theDrivingForcesof History .Kindle Ebooks.

[5] Silvio Vietta (2012). Rationalitt. Eine Weltgeschichte.Europische Kulturgeschichte und Globalisierung . Fink.

[6] Pascal. Penses, Nr. 277 .

[7] Kreis, Steven (2009-08-04). Lecture 16: The RomanticEra . Historyguide.org. Retrieved 2012-12-08.

[8] Ellis, Albert (2001). Overcoming Destructive Beliefs,Feelings, and Behaviors: New Directions for RationalEmotive Behavior Therapy. Prometheus Books .

9 References

Stuart Sutherland Irrationality: Why We Don't Think Straight , 1992, reissued 2007 by Pinter & MartinISBN 978-1-905177-07-3

Robin Vermoesen Rationaliteit is Vals, 2007,www.unibook.com

10 External links

Craig R. M. McKenzie. Rational models as theories not standards of behavior. TRENDS in CognitiveSciences Vol.7 No.9 September 2003

REBT-CBT NET Internet Guide to RationalEmo-tive Behavior Therapy

http://rebt-cbt.net/http://rebt-cbt.net/http://psy.ucsd.edu/~mckenzie/mckenzie-tics.pdfhttp://psy.ucsd.edu/~mckenzie/mckenzie-tics.pdfhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9781905177073https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuart_Sutherlandhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prometheus_Bookshttp://www.historyguide.org/intellect/lecture16a.htmlhttp://www.historyguide.org/intellect/lecture16a.htmlhttp://www.screensite.org/courses/Jbutler/T340/SurManifesto/ManifestoOfSurrealism.htmhttp://web.archive.org/web/20090401002841/http://www.screensite.org/courses/Jbutler/T340/SurManifesto/ManifestoOfSurrealism.htmhttp://web.archive.org/web/20090401002841/http://www.screensite.org/courses/Jbutler/T340/SurManifesto/ManifestoOfSurrealism.htmhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0688146767https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rational_irrationalityhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-serving_biashttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rationality_and_powerhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optimism_biashttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logical_Fallacyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irrationalism_and_Aestheticismhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dysrationaliahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_Bias

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