Analysis of an Issue:

ISSUE:

"In making complex decisions, one should trust experience more than instincts"

RESPONSE:


I agree with the above mentioned position. Experience is extremely important in making any sort of decision, and more so, if the decision is of complex nature. Experience is something which is 'gained' and not 'bought'. Using one's experience in making decisions displays a familiarity of that person with the problem. The person has, in the past, made either a right decision while facing the similar situation or a wrong decision. In either of the cases, he has gained some knowledge and learned something from his decision. Precisely, this is what the experience is. When the nature of the decision is complex, the instinct has no role to play.

When a government body forms the economic policy for its country, there is a huge amount of complexities involved in forming such policies. It requires a lot of decision making and each of such decisions is extremely complex in nature and could have devastating effects on the country as a whole if made wrongly. The body always has people who are very experienced and are having a sound knowledge about the job they are performing. Experience is the key here. Instinct has a little role to play when it comes to making complex decisions such as those made while forming the economic policy.

On the other hand, one can trust instinct if the decisions to be made are not so serious or complex. If one has to make a choice between two restaurants for dinner, or has to select a holiday destination, he or she can trust on the instinct.

If one trusts his instinct over experience while making complex decision, he is going to have surprising results for sure. Either the decision will be proved right in a big way or it will be proved wrong and may even sound very stupid. Experience, on the other hand, can help you take sound decisions. This is one of the reasons why the experienced people are the highest paid people in almost every industry. The complex decisions made by trusting one's experience can, too, go wrong and may not yield desired results. However, there is always a justification for the same. There is virtually no justification for decisions taken by trusting one's instincts.

Therefore, it is always better to use the experience and not the instinct while making complex decisions. For, the experience can improve one's instinct, and the instinct can make one's experience sour.