Recent research has revealed a number of critical elements of emotions in decision making. Here are some important findings:

A totally emotional decision is very fast in comparison to a rational decision. This is reactive (and largely subconscious) and can be useful when faced with immediate danger, or in decisions of minimal significance.

Emotions can also be seen as signals from the subconscious that provide information about what we really choose. Decisions that start with logic may need emotions to enable the final selection, particularly when confronted with near equal options.

We make quick decisions without knowing why, and then create rational reasons to justify a poor emotional decision.

Intensity of emotions can override rational decision making in cases where it is clearly needed.

Emotional decision making can also come with a number of negatives.

Individuals care about the emotional features of decision options.

Emotions often drive us in directions conflicting with self-interest.

Immediate and unrelated emotions can create mistakes by distorting and creating bias in judgments. In some cases this can lead to unexpected and reckless action.

Projected emotions can lead to errors because people are subject to systemic inaccuracy about how they will feel in the future.

Emotions provide us a way for coding and compacting experience, enabling fast response selection. This is why "gut" level decisions have high accuracy rates.

Listening to your gut.
When you make decisions, you tend to think of rational analysis as straightforward, and gut feelings as disingenuous. But the reason emotions get a bad reputation is that you probably don’t know how to decode them. Emotions come from expertise, experience, and rapid information processing.

The two types of emotions.
Psychologists differentiate between integral emotions and incidental emotions.

Integral emotions are directly tied to the choice you’re facing. For example, if you’re trying to decide whether or not to ask for a promotion, and the idea of not asking fills you with regret, that feeling is an integral emotion.

Incidental emotions are unrelated to the decision at hand, but they like to stick their tentacles into a person's reasoning. Say; your boss stubs her toe or gets a speeding ticket on the way to the office. That primary behavior driver might cause her to get upset easily that day and also decide that her colleagues’ ideas are bad.

Envy and regret are two common integral emotions, and sadness and anger are two common incidental emotions.

How do you make decisions?
Most people claim they make decisions rationally. The truth is, we decide with emotion and justify our decisions with logic. Have you been to Starbucks this week? Why did you choose Starbucks and not the cheaper cafe next door?

It’s not because of better coffee or friendlier staff, but the feeling Starbucks sells along with its drinks. Modern design and fancy names, the social acceptance you get from your visit because all the cool kids go there, and the reassurance that you get the same product wherever you go are what makes Starbucks influential.

The Science of Emotion Coaching / Regulation
Emotion Coaching is a third wave psychological approach (looking forward and not backward) to achieving sustainable, positive behavioral change in a short time frame.

Enhancing a person’s ability to control their emotions.
The operating principles of Emotion Coaching have been developed over recent years primarily from the field of evidence based psychology, neuroscience and brain-based learning.

Today, with the advances in neuroscience, using tangible, testable metrics, we can better explain the workings of the brain as it relates to behavior change and emotional regulation.

Learning Emotion Management Skills means that we can manage the emotions we feel as well as how and when they are experienced and expressed. Regulation of emotions is incredibly important for an executive’s performance and their well-being. It can enable a person to be positive in the face of difficult situations and can stop fear, failure, criticism or humiliation from crushing them.

Conversely, emotional dysregulation and a breakdown in emotional regulation strategies is linked to anxiety, depression, crippling stress, substance misuse and even personality disorders.

The Behavioral Coaching Institute’s easy-to-use Emotion Exchange Model, taught in its Master Coach Course, empowers the user to exchange maladaptive, negative emotions with empowering, positive emotions.

The integration of Executive coaching and Mindfulness.
Numerous recent studies have confirmed how mindfulness helps executives / leaders to settle and focus their minds, so they can make the necessary mindset shifts and behavior changes that their complex executive roles demand of them. Executive leaders who have been coached by a BCI Trained Master Coach  have learnt the necessary mindset skills to regulate their emotions and succeed in a competitive and globalized economy that demands top-tier stress management, strategic/clear thinking, and strong interpersonal skills.

For over 25 years, Dr Zeus's Behavioral Coaching Institute (our parent organization) has been internationally recognized as the leader in building the next generation of emotion coaching exchange models and tools.


The Certified Master Coach Course with an Emotion Focus - learning how to use the latest Behavior Change Models to effect measurable, sustainable individual change and learning: The Behavioral Coaching Institute's fast-tracked, internationally recognized Master Coach Course (Self-Study, Campus and Distance Learning Format) meets the critical needs for executive coaches, change agents and other professional people developers to be trained and mentored in the use of validated, reliable behavioral change tools and techniques.  

In short, this specialist, accredited Master Coach Course teaches students (in easy to follow steps) how to use validated, emotion exchange tools and techniques to enhance adaptive emotional drivers and decrease maladaptive emotional drivers of all persons helping them to fulfil their potential and maximize their performance..

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