Vulnerable to cognitive biases. Cognitive biases are common patterns of thinking that have been demonstrated to lead to errors in judgment and poor decision making. Deferring the decision pending the pro-con analysis also provides a gap in time in which powerful emotions can dissipate, reducing the risk of an “ amygdala hijack,” the cognitive phenomenon popularized by Daniel Goleman’s emotional intelligence writings, in which perceived emotional threats can lead to extreme actions, often with undesirable outcomes.įamiliarity and simplicity. Perhaps most compelling of all, the pros-and-cons list is generally well understood, requires no special computational or analytical expertise, and is elegantly simple to administer. Going through the steps of creating a pros-and-cons list can create what researchers Ozlem Ayduk and Ethan Kross refer to as a “self-distanced perspective,” in which the decision is viewed as an “external” problem to be addressed, easing the impact of the emotions surrounding the decision. Assigning weights to each of the pros and cons is an additional exercise that promotes deeper thinking and presumably leads to better-quality decision making.Įmotional distance. Important decisions are likely to evoke powerful emotions. Rigor. Making the effort to think through all possible pros and cons of a given course of action, and then capturing them in writing, minimizes the likelihood that critical factors have been missed. The pros-and-cons list enjoys a long and storied history, going back at least as far as 1772, when Benjamin Franklin advised his friend and fellow scientist Joseph Priestley to “divide half a s heet of p aper by a l ine into two columns, writing over the one Pro, and over the other Con.” But how useful is a pros-and-cons list, really? It’s only fitting to consider the pros and cons of this popular decision-making tool: The Pros Pondering an important decision? Chances are that you will consider drawing up a list of pros and cons of the options.
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