Rationality And Emotion In Neurotypical Risk-Reward Decision Making: Social Justice Implications
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.38026/jhsj.v7i1.56Keywords:
neurodiversity, rational decision-making, legal injustice, cognitive diversity, social exclusionAbstract
This research explored how neurotypical adults’ decision-making processes, when influenced by emotions of joy and fear, reveal underlying biases that have social justice implications for neurodivergent individuals. Neurodivergent adults are often stereotyped as irrational and unpredictable which means that ‘neurotypical’ adults are positioned as rational in response. This research examined rationality in relation to the risk-reward decision making of neurotypical adults and critically considered the social justice implications of these findings for neurodivergent people. Specifically, our mixed method study based in experimental philosophical methodology has investigated: a) whether attempts at evoking the emotions of joy and fear respectively across two decision scenarios, each with identical risks of death and monetary rewards, can influence the decision-making scores of neurotypical adults; b) the ways in which study participants explained their decisions; and c) the social justice implications of study findings for neurodivergent people. Results showed that the evocation of fear significantly impacted the rational decision-making abilities of neurotypical individuals, revealing a susceptibility to emotional manipulation. Themes and sub-themes explaining study participants’ decision making included: beliefs (low risk, high reward, simplicity, equal risks); emotions (enjoyment, fear); prior experiences; and constraints (information deficit, reward deficit; psychological cost; ethical). We conclude by discussing the social justice implications of the results in relation to the assumed rationality of neurotypical people, or irrationality of neurodivergent people.
References
Abelman, H. (2020). Cripping mad cow disease. In Disability and Animality (pp. 212-220): Routledge.
Agarwal, J., & Cruise Malloy, D. (2000). The role of existentialism in ethical business decision‐making. Business ethics: a European review, 9(3), 143-154.
Anderson, D. J., & Adolphs, R. (2014). A framework for studying emotions across species. Cell, 157(1), 187-200.
Attfield, R. (1991). Making Decisions. Philosophy Now, 1, 5-8.
Battersby, M. (2020). Practical Rationality: Critical Questions for Rational Decision Making. Retrieved from https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/ossaarchive/OSSA12/Friday/16/?utm_source=scholar.uwindsor.ca%2Fossaarchive%2FOSSA12%2FFriday%2F16&utm_medium=PDF&utm_campaign=PDFCoverPages
Baumann, C. (2018). Hegel and Marx on Individuality and the Universal Good. Hegel Bulletin, 39(1), 61-81. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/hgl.2016.33
Beaupert, F., & Brosnan, L. (2021). Weaponizing absent knowledges: Countering the violence of mental health law. In The Routledge international handbook of made studies (pp. 119-131): Routledge.
Bedford, E. (1956). Emotions. Paper presented at the Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society.
Benatar, S., Daibes, I., & Tomsons, S. (2016). Inter-Philosophies Dialogue: Creating a Paradigm for Global Health Ethics. Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal, 26(3), 323-VII.
Beresford, P. (2021). Mad Studies in a maddening world. The Routledge international handbook of mad studies, 370.
Bortolotti, L., Cox, R., Broome, M., & Mameli, M. (2012). Rationality and self-knowledge in delusions and confabulations: Implications for autonomy as self-governance. In L. Radoilska (Ed.), Autonomy and mental disorder (pp. 100-122). Oxford: Oxford Academic.
Boshoff, E., & Kotzé, M. (2011). The conceptualization and measurement of philosophical approaches that influence ethical decision making in the work context: Part 1. African Journal of Business Ethics, 5(1), 36-49.
Boudon, R. (2009). Rational choice theory. The new Blackwell companion to social theory, 179-195.
Brandom, R. (1994). Making it explicit: Reasoning, representing, and discursive commitment. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Brandom, R. (2009). Articulating reasons: An introduction to inferentialism. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative research in psychology, 3(2), 77-101.
Broad, C. D. (1954). Emotion and sentiment. The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 13(2), 203-214.
Chow, S. J. (2017). How reason confronts experience: on naturalist accounts of reason. Mind & Society, 16(1-2), 51-80. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11299-016-0191-6
Commendador, K. A. (2003). Concept analysis of adolescent decision making and contraception. Paper presented at the Nursing Forum.
Cutler, E. S. (2019). Listening to those with lived experience. Critical psychiatry: Controversies and clinical implications, 179-206.
Dalis, G. T., & Strasser, B. B. (1977). Teaching Strategies for Values Awareness and Decision Making in Health Education. New Jersey: CB Slack.
Elias, J. L., & Merriam, S. B. (1995). Philosophical foundations of adult education. Malabar: Krieger publishing.
European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights. (2010). The right to political participation of persons with mental health problems and persons with intellectual disabilities. In: Wien Austria.
Farmer, G. D., Baron-Cohen, S., & Skylark, W. J. (2017). People with autism spectrum conditions make more consistent decisions. Psychological science, 28(8), 1067-1076.
Flores, C. (2021). Changing Minds With Style. Retrieved from https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5c17834dc258b4dac072be23/t/6078c016f529523d4c01f32a/1618526230360/Flores_ChangingMindsStyle.pdf
Forbes, P. A., Chaliani, I., Schilbach, L., & Kalenscher, T. (2024). Autistic adults show enhanced generosity to socially distant others. Autism, 28(4), 999-1009.
Gendler, T. S. (2007). Philosophical thought experiments, intuitions, and cognitive equilibrium. Midwest studies in philosophy, 31, 68-89.
Grimm, S. R. (2018). Understanding as an intellectual virtue. In H. Battaly (Ed.), The Routledge handbook of virtue epistemology (pp. 340-351): Routledge.
Guala, F., & Hodgson, T. (2010). The philosopher in the scanner (or: how can neuroscience contribute to social philosophy?). Journal of Economic Methodology, 17(2), 147-157.
Hansen, R. S. (1992). A multidimensional scale for measuring business ethics: A purification and refinement. Journal of Business Ethics, 11(7), 523-534.
Hardy-Vallée, B. (2011). Decision-making in robotics and psychology: A distributed account. New Ideas in Psychology, 29(3), 203-216.
Hardy‐Vallée, B. (2007). Decision‐Making: A Neuroeconomic Perspective. Philosophy Compass, 2(6), 939-953.
Harper, P. T. (2019). The Symbolic Imagination: Plato and Contemporary Business Ethics: JBE. Journal of Business Ethics, 1-17. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10551-019-04244-2
Hefferon, K. A. (2020). Recognising Autistic women: A minority within a minority. The University of Waikato, Hamilton.
Hooker, C. A. (1994). Idealisation, naturalism, and rationality: Some lessons from minimal rationality. Synthese, 99(2), 181-231.
Hooker, C. A. (1995). Reason, regulation, and realism: Towards a regulatory systems theory of reason and evolutionary epistemology. New York: Suny Press.
Houlders, J. W., Bortolotti, L., & Broome, M. R. (2021). Threats to epistemic agency in young people with unusual experiences and beliefs. Synthese, 199(3-4), 7689-7704.
Jefferson, A., & Sifferd, K. (2022). Practical wisdom and the value of cognitive diversity. Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplements, 92, 149-166.
Jenni, N. L., Rutledge, G., & Floresco, S. B. (2022). Distinct medial orbitofrontal–striatal circuits support dissociable component processes of risk/reward decision-making. Journal of Neuroscience, 42(13), 2743-2755.
Jeppsson, S. (2023). Exemption, Self-Exemption, and Compassionate Self-Excuse. International Mad Studies Journal, 1(1), e1-21.
Knobe, J., Buckwalter, W., Nichols, S., Robbins, P., Sarkissian, H., & Sommers, T. (2012). Experimental philosophy. Annual review of psychology, 63, 81-99.
Laerd-Statistics. (2018). Sign test using SPSS statistics. Retrieved from https://statistics.laerd.com/spss-tutorials/sign-test-using-spss-statistics.php
LeBon, T., & Arnaud, D. (2004). Progress towards wise decision making. Philosophy of Management, 4(2), 53-72.
Markič, O. (2009). Rationality and emotions in decision making. Interdisciplinary Description of Complex Systems: INDECS, 7(2), 54-64.
Maylea, C. (2023). Mad hats. A reflection on mad leadership. International Mad Studies Journal, 1(1), e1-9.
McCullough, G. J. (2023). Anton Boisen Reconsidered: Psychiatric Survivor and Mad Prophet. Journal of Religion and Health, 62(1), 228-254.
McLaren, K. R. (2014). Interrogating normal: Autism social skills training at the margins of a social fiction. Retrieved from https://scholarworks.calstate.edu/downloads/2n49t244n
Mellifont, D. (2023). A Rapid Review Informing About The Discrimination As Experienced By Neurodivergent Defendants. Journal of Humanity and Social Justice, 5(1), 1-15.
Merchant, W., Read, S., D’Evelyn, S., Miles, C., & Williams, V. (2020). The insider view: Tackling disabling practices in higher education institutions. Higher Education, 80, 273-287.
Mills, C., & Lefrançois, B. A. (2018). Child as metaphor: Colonialism, psy-governance, and epistemicide. World Futures, 74(7-8), 503-524.
Morgan, D. (2021). Re: Thematic analysis: Qualitative data writing up and quotes from the interviewees. is the approach below acceptable? Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/post/Thematic_ analysis_Qualitative_data_ writing_up_and_quotes_from_the_interviewees_is_the_approach_below_acceptable/60523af9b87cdc44712b68ca/citation/download
Morse, J. M. (2007). Qualitative researchers don’t count. In (Vol. 17, pp. 287-287): Sage Publications Sage CA: Thousand Oaks, CA.
Murphy, B. (2018). Neurodivergent women in'clouded judgment'unconscionability cases: An intersectional feminist perspective. The Adelaide law review, 39(1), 37-64.
Nadelhoffer, T., & Nahmias, E. (2007). The past and future of experimental philosophy. Philosophical Explorations, 10(2), 123-149.
Nietzsche, F. W. (1967). The will to power. Retrieved from https://ia803205.us.archive.org/27/items/FriedrichNietzscheTheWillToPower/Friedrich%20Nietzsche%20-%20The%20Will%20to%20Power.pdf
Nutt, P. C. (2003). Why decisions fail: Avoiding the blunders and traps that lead to debacles. In. New York: Academy of Management Briarcliff Manor.
O’Donovan, M. M. (2010). Cognitive diversity in the global academy: Why the voices of persons with cognitive disabilities are vital to intellectual diversity. Journal of Academic Ethics, 8, 171-185.
Poulter, D., Votruba, N., Bakolis, I., Debell, F., Das-Munshi, J., & Thornicroft, G. (2019). Mental health of UK Members of Parliament in the House of Commons: a cross-sectional survey. BMJ Open, 9(7), e027892.
Pulrang, A. (2022). The many flavors of disability bullying. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewpulrang/2022/03/25/the-many-flavors-of-disability-bullying/?sh=2850a0d232a2
Ramadhan, D. A. (2021). The limitation of voting rights for people with permanent mental disabilities in Indonesia: a debate between reasonable and unreasonable rights. Cogent Social Sciences, 7(1), 1932032.
Reidenbach, R. E., & Robin, D. P. (1990). Toward the development of a multidimensional scale for improving evaluations of business ethics. Journal of Business Ethics, 9(8), 639-653.
Rose, D. (2017). Service user/survivor-led research in mental health: epistemological possibilities. Disability & Society, 32(6), 773-789.
Rosqvist, H. B., Chown, N., & Stenning, A. (2020). Neurodiversity studies: A new critical paradigm: Routledge.
Rossouw, D., & Van Vuuren, L. (2006). Business Ethics Cape Town: Oxford University Press.
Scarantino, A., & De Sousa, R. (2018). Emotion.
Scott, D. (2002). Social Competence Electronic Version. Evaluating the National Outcomes, Program Outcomes, for Youth. Social Competency. Retrieved February, 10, 2012.
Scott, J. (2000). Rational choice theory. Understanding contemporary society: Theories of the present, 129, 126-138.
Shah, P., Catmur, C., & Bird, G. (2016). Emotional decision-making in autism spectrum disorder: the roles of interoception and alexithymia. Molecular autism, 7, 1-10.
Simmons, W. P., Boynton, J., & Landman, T. (2021). Facilitated communication, neurodiversity, and human rights. Human Rights Quarterly, 43(1), 138-167.
Somerville, M. A. (1998). Making health, not war--musings on global disparities in health and human rights: a critical commentary by Solomon R. Benatar. American journal of public health, 88(2), 301-303.
Sorensen, R. (2004). Charity Implies Meta‐Charity. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 68(2), 290-315.
Spencer, L., & Carel, H. (2021). 'Isn’t Everyone a Little OCD?'The Epistemic Harms of Wrongful Depathologization. Philosophy of Medicine, 2(1), 1-18.
Tezcan, I. M. Autism Beyond Defcits: Embracing Neurodiversity in Research.
Thagard, P. (2009). Why cognitive science needs philosophy and vice versa. Topics in Cognitive Science, 1(2), 237-254.
van der Plas, E., Mason, D., & Happé, F. (2023). Decision-making in autism: A narrative review. Autism, 27(6), 1532-1546.
Walker, N. (2014). Neurodiversity: Some basic terms & definitions. Retrieved from https://neurocosmopolitanism.com/neurodiversity-some-basic-terms-definitions/
Welle, H. M., Russell, R. D., & Kittleson, M. J. (1995). Philosophical trends in health education: Implications for the 21st century. Journal of Health Education, 26(6), 326-332.
Wong, A. Y., Bryck, R. L., Baker, R. S., Hutt, S., & Mills, C. (2023). Using a Webcam Based Eye-tracker to Understand Students’ Thought Patterns and Reading Behaviors in Neurodivergent Classrooms. Paper presented at the LAK23: 13th International Learning Analytics and Knowledge Conference.
Yannoulidis, S. T. (2003). Mental illness, rationality, and criminal responsibility.(Tropes of insanity and related defences). Sydney Law Review, 25(2), 189-221.
Zisk, A. H. (2019). Pulling the Rug Out From Under (Neuro) Divergence in the Divergent Universe. Critical Disability Discourses, 9.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Damian Mellifont, Jennifer Smith-Merry
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
