Start Date
23-4-2026 12:00 AM
Description
Human reasoning operates on a continuum that integrates rational analysis with intuitive and emotionally driven thought. While rationality is often idealized as logical and evidence-based, irrational thinking is not merely a flaw; it often plays a functional or adaptive role. Drawing on work by Galotti (2008), Michalik-Jeżowska (2019), and others, this paper explores how reasoning interacts with unconscious processes in everyday decision-making, sports performance, and social behavior. Findings indicate that irrational cognitive tendencies, though often maladaptive, can, under certain conditions, enhance resilience, focus, and social cohesion. The integration of rational and irrational elements within human cognition illustrates the complexity and context-dependence of how people interpret and respond to their environments.
Research Highlights
-
The Problem: Human reasoning is inherently limited, as decision-making is heavily influenced by unconscious biases, habits, and emotional responses rather than being strictly rational or irrational.
-
The Method: This research examines decision-making frameworks and the psychological utility of irrationality through a review of literature involving cognitive distortions in athletes, evolutionary survival strategies, and the balancing view of rational action.
-
Quantitative Finding: The average adult makes approximately 35,000 decisions a day; a majority of these decisions occur automatically or under conditions of limited cognitive resources.
-
Qualitative Finding: Delusional mindsets in athletes serve as a protective mechanism to block negative feedback; believing or propagating untruths can enhance individual or group success; from an evolutionary standpoint, hesitation in high-consequence situations is often more dangerous than making an error.
-
Finding: Human survival does not solely depend on perfect rationality, as non-optimal thinking and irrational beliefs can serve logical social or survival functions.
Recommended Citation
Geerling, Violette, "Limits to Human Reason" (2026). 2026 Student Academic Showcase. 11.
https://digitalcommons.lindenwood.edu/src_2026/Posters/1/11
Included in
Limits to Human Reason
Human reasoning operates on a continuum that integrates rational analysis with intuitive and emotionally driven thought. While rationality is often idealized as logical and evidence-based, irrational thinking is not merely a flaw; it often plays a functional or adaptive role. Drawing on work by Galotti (2008), Michalik-Jeżowska (2019), and others, this paper explores how reasoning interacts with unconscious processes in everyday decision-making, sports performance, and social behavior. Findings indicate that irrational cognitive tendencies, though often maladaptive, can, under certain conditions, enhance resilience, focus, and social cohesion. The integration of rational and irrational elements within human cognition illustrates the complexity and context-dependence of how people interpret and respond to their environments.