We often wonder why those around us – very much including those in supreme authority – are making such a mess of things. If we are honest with ourselves we must also realize that we are not at all immune from making – to put it mildly – non-optional decisions in our own lives.
We are puzzled by all this because in any given situation we assume that people, including ourselves, will act sensibly. But that is not an assumption on which we can rely. We live our lives and make our decisions on much shakier foundations than reason and good sense. It is important to understand that people seldom think logically and therefore very often do not act rationally.
The long testimony of history, and the recent researches of behavioural scientists, clearly indicate that the cool exercise of logic is only one influence in how people think and therefore act. There are other influences at work which are all too often more powerful.