Newsflash: I’m a Sucker

This weekend my fiancé revealed my deep dark secret- I’m a sucker.  I pride myself on being logical and a good critical thinker.  I carefully weigh facts when making a decision and invite unique solutions when solving a problem. But there is one clear area in my life where I tend to ignore my own critical thinking ability.

I have an emotional bias.  We all do. My emotional bias is for animals and animal owners. Show me a commercial with a sad looking puppy and tell me that $50 will make them happy again, and I will have that check sent before you can say Sally Struthers.  I am incapable of checking out at Petsmart without donating money to local animal shelters.  Every time the ASPCA sends me address labels and an empty envelope, I send it back with a donation and a smile.  I fall for appeals to emotion every time when there is an animal involved.

Same thing goes with animal owners.  There has been a string of burglaries around my house recently, and reportedly the burglars knock on the door first to see if anyone is home and try to get a good look inside before they come back and break in.  Ordinarily I don’t open the door for anyone other than FedEx or UPS, but when I looked through the peep-hole in my door, a man and his dog were on my porch.  Immediately, I opened the door.  Why?  Dog owners aren’t burglars. Wait…what?  Yes,  I realize how silly that sounds.  My emotional bias could have put me in grave danger.

And there you have it- my deep dark secret.  I am emotionally biased and tend to overlook logic and critical thinking when animals are involved.  I have to work hard to overcome my emotional bias towards animals when making decisions.

What is your emotional bias?