{"id":110513,"date":"2023-08-15T16:24:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-15T20:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=110513"},"modified":"2023-08-16T13:18:18","modified_gmt":"2023-08-16T17:18:18","slug":"what-is-rational-thinking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/what-is-rational-thinking\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is Rational Thinking? Steven Pinker Explains"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>What is rational thinking? How do your beliefs and emotions fit into the process?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You probably would quickly agree that you and everyone else should think and act rationally. But, you might not have thought much about what that actually means. Steven Pinker takes on this basic yet somewhat elusive matter and provides a simple definition that brings clarity to the discussion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Read more to learn Pinker&#8217;s definition of rational thinking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-what-is-rational-thinking\">What Is Rational Thinking?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In his book <a href=\"https:\/\/www.penguinrandomhouse.com\/books\/600502\/rationality-by-steven-pinker\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>Rationality<\/em><\/a>, cognitive and experimental psychologist Steven Pinker argues that rationality is essential for improving our world and society. But, people often misunderstand it, acting irrationally even when they think they\u2019re not. So, what is rational thinking? Pinker defines rationality as <em>the use of knowledge to attain goals<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Within this definition, <em>knowledge<\/em> is <em>a belief that can be proven true<\/em>. Both of these aspects\u2014<strong><em>goals<\/em> and <em>true, provable knowledge<\/em>\u2014are critical aspects of rationality.<\/strong> You\u2019re not acting rationally if you act on false beliefs, nor are you acting rationally if you don\u2019t apply your beliefs to a goal. A rational person must <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/having-a-purpose-in-life\/\">have a purpose<\/a> for their thinking, whether that&#8217;s to get around a physical object or to determine the truth of an idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>The Cognitive Versus Emotional Aspect of Rationality<\/strong><br><br>Pinker\u2019s definition of rationality aligns with that of most thinkers who have attempted to describe it\u2014at its base, rationality holds that, when you <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/be-decisive\/\">make a choice<\/a> (working toward a goal), you\u2019ll choose the thing you\u2019ve determined <a href=\"https:\/\/www.investopedia.com\/terms\/r\/rational-behavior.asp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">will be most advantageous to you<\/a>. This definition typically focuses on how we <em>cognitively<\/em> assess that advantage, and it usually assumes that thinking rationally is inherently at odds with thinking emotionally.<br><br>However, some others point out that, if you make a choice based on what you like best, you might, in doing so, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ecnmy.org\/learn\/you\/choices-behavior\/what-is-rationality\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">follow your emotions instead of your mind<\/a>. But, because the result is that you choose the option you best prefer, it still satisfies the definition of rationality. This points to the difficulty of nailing down a definition of rationality that eliminates any influence of irrationality since emotions are such an integral part of human <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/methods-of-decision-making-crucial-conversations\/\">decision-making<\/a>, thus blurring the line between rational and irrational thought and action.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is rational thinking? How do your beliefs and emotions fit into the process? You probably would quickly agree that you and everyone else should think and act rationally. But, you might not have thought much about what that actually means. Steven Pinker takes on this basic yet somewhat elusive matter and provides a simple definition that brings clarity to the discussion. Read more to learn Pinker&#8217;s definition of rational thinking.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":90415,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[1127],"class_list":["post-110513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-psychology","tag-rationality","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>What Is Rational Thinking? Steven Pinker Explains - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Steven Pinker says rational thinking is critical for improving society. But, people often misunderstand what it is. 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Here&#039;s his definition.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/what-is-rational-thinking\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-08-15T20:24:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-08-16T17:18:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/woman-with-question-marks.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Elizabeth Whitworth\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Elizabeth Whitworth\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/what-is-rational-thinking\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/what-is-rational-thinking\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Elizabeth Whitworth\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d2928cf6c11a69ced1491d6a5b74fb13\"},\"headline\":\"What Is Rational Thinking? 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