WORLDVIEW: Rationality vs emotion in SA politics – what’s winning?

By Felicity Duncan.We like to imagine that human beings are rational creatures who make decisions by carefully weighing the evidence and making the optimal choice. But as a model for human behaviour, rationality is a pretty poor one..In fact, people make decisions based on emotion, not sense, and allow their feelings and snap judgments – what economist Daniel Kahneman calls "thinking fast" – to dominate their choices..___STEADY_PAYWALL___.This is not necessarily a bad thing. If we carefully analysed every decision we make, we'd never manage to get out of the house. We'd be too busy spending years researching the optimal wardrobe choice or the ideal breakfast..But when it comes to politics, this tendency to make judgements based on feeling rather than logic comes with a big price tag..Consider the following..Opposition to immigration – Many people around the world are angry about migration. They believe that immigrants steal jobs and destroy the moral fibre of the nation. This is an emotional, rather than a rational perspective. In fact, most studies show that, especially in places that encourage entrepreneurship, immigrants create more jobs than locals. In places where we have good data – the US, for example – the statistics clearly show that immigrants commit less crime than natives. They are also more likely to be employed in most of the places that have both good data and a sizeable immigrant population. Throughout human history – and we're talking tens of thousands of years here – people have migrated from bad places (famines, droughts, not enough jobs) to good places (rainfall, good cropland, more jobs). Migration is a big reason that humans live everywhere on earth, unlike, say, leopards. It's also a big reason for the economic success we've had. Yet there is little rationality in the immigration debate. People don't like foreigners, regardless of the benefits they bring, and they allow that feeling to dominate their decisions.Voting behaviour – This one should resonate with South Africans. In most countries in the world, the best predictor of who you vote for is not which party is best equipped to govern, nor is it which party will do the most for you, personally. It's who your parents voted for. Most people just vote for the same party year after year, regardless of the quality of its candidates or its track record, simply because they have always voted for that party. It's the same reason people support losing soccer teams – loyalty and tradition are more important than performance and evidence. There are many people in South Africa who will continue to vote for the ANC or the DA no matter what happens because they are voting based on emotions like loyalty rather than on a cool, logical assessment of the choices on offer..We are all subject to this emotional bias – me just as much as you or the next person. And it's not even a bad thing, necessarily. Emotion is important in politics, it encourages passion and action and sparks debate, which are all good things..The problem is when we allow emotions to dominate our politics to the point where we ignore evidence. The danger comes when we let our emotions and prejudices overwhelm our good sense and human decency..And today, we are becoming more and more embroiled in the politics of emotion, both in South Africa and elsewhere. Combating this type of political energy – the populist, nativist, rage-fuelled politics of resentment and racism – is very difficult. It's so easy, in the heat of passion, to allow our stereotypes, prejudices, and anger to short circuit our rational brains..But the only way to improve the quality of our debate and the functioning of our politics is one brain at a time, starting with mine and yours. It means making a conscious effort to put aside our feelings and think about what we are seeing before we react..A good test of this will come when finance minister Tito Mboweni presents his budget on Wednesday. Both he and President Cyril Ramaphosa have signalled that it will not please everyone. It's very likely, in fact, that it will please no one. Some people want to see sweeping cuts to social spending and a tough new focus on balancing the budget. Others want more focus on fighting poverty and rural upliftment. No one is going to get everything they want. Many people won't get anything they want..But, while those around you react with anger and fear when they see what Mboweni has to say, you and I can choose to withhold judgement and evaluate the budget with cool heads. It may not seem like much, but if every South African did the same, we would be well on the way to a better, healthier, and more constructive political life.

WORLDVIEW: Rationality vs emotion in SA politics – what’s winning?

Related Stories