
Ask PG: The difference between instinct and emotion? - langer
Like most people who will read this, I'm in my 20s and working on a startup I founded. Almost all the advice I've read and listened to regarding decision-making is consistent:<p>- follow your instincts<p>- don't get too emotionally attached to your startup<p>But in order to hone your instincts, surely you want them to be as in touch with your startup as possible? If this is true, and instincts and emotions were the same thing, then this would lead to a contradiction in the advice.<p>Therefore, I'm beginning to think that there must be a difference between instinct and emotion. However, I'm struggling to distinguish between the two inside myself.<p>So - is there a difference between instinct and emotion? If there is, what is it?
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pg
Don't worry about the words. I think what these apparently conflicting quotes
are about is optimism management. You want to be hopeful that you can one day
produce something great, but assume what you have so far is crap. Or if you
want a cheerier version, will seem like crap later compared to the marvelous
stuff you'll make.

Incidentally, this applies to many types of work, not just startups.

~~~
langer
I agree with you on this when thinking about your startup/product as a whole,
however this isn't the problem I'm so interested in.

My question is more about how to identify the appropriate drivers for making
specific decisions when there are too many unknown variables in play to come
up with a conclusion through logical analysis.

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pg
Sorry, I don't know how to identify the appropriate drivers for making
specific decisions when there are too many unknown variables in play to come
up with a conclusion through logical analysis.

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randy
This semantic inquiry is pretty trivial. They mean different things and carry
different degrees of importance to different people. Who cares if they're the
same or not? When reading advice, you shouldn't take the words literally, but
rather come up with your own interpretation. My interpretation of this type of
advice boils down to: 'When faced with a decision, think about it [your
emotions and instincts come into play here] and do what you feel is right.'

P.S. As an aside: My personal interpretation paints them as fairly distinct,
though related, things: Instinct tells you what you should do, Emotion tells
you how you feel. They sometimes feed one another (i.e. You see a pretty girl
and emotionally fall head over heels which makes your instinct tells you to do
something before this angel walks out of your life forever) and sometimes are
in conflict with one another (i.e. Your instinct tells you to sell your
company because you've subconsciously crunched the numbers and outcomes and
decided it's for the best, but you can't emotionally bear the thought of
living another day without the baby you've worked so hard on).

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iamelgringo
Instinct is a gut level "this is wrong" or "this is the right way to go". It's
getting as much information you can about the decision in front of you,
synthesizing it all and going with your gut.

Emotion is the "Oh Crap!" the "This rocks! I'm going to be a guhzillionaire."
or "I'm doomed" feelings. Emotion is the "But I've worked so hard on this, I
cant let it go" feelings.

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IsaacSchlueter
It's a difference of attitude more than subject. In a way, your emotions are
your instincts, but that's a bit like saying that your brain _is_ your mind.
While that may be true, there's a big difference between talking about brains
and talking about minds.

When someone says, "Follow your instincts," they're saying "Be very aware of
the information that your emotions are providing to you, because it'll often
be the most useful information you have."

When they say "don't get too emotionally involved," they mean "If your
emotions start screaming at you, don't freak out and start acting stupid."

Take Jack Bauer from 24. He acts quickly, and is very aware of the information
his emotions tell him, but he also is rational and careful, which is why he
sees the way out of every situation. The similarity is pretty striking,
actually. In a startup, you're in a situation with high stakes where decisive
action is crucial, the stakes are high, the odds are stacked against you,
cracking under the pressure is a sure-fire way to fail, and you never sleep.

Be like Jack Bauer. (He's also got some good lessons on dealing with
troublesome investors ;)

~~~
langer
Good answer. I like your interpretations of the advice. I also like the
brain/mind analogy.

Unfortunately I'm not a 24 watcher so can't relate to Jack Bauer (yet); maybe
I'll watch an episode or two now :)

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IsaacSchlueter
Thanks.

off-topic: I don't know how people can watch the show weekly. Get the DVDs,
and start at season 1. You won't regret it. Careful, though, it's a terrible
time sink.

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boredguy8
Good question, and I'm interested in hearing PG's answer. But so far, nobody's
given a /principled/ way you can discriminate between the two. For instance,
why can't I have an instinct that "I'm doomed"? Are emotions just 'bad' and
instincts just good? Of course not.

I think the point of the advice you've mentioned is this: you're probably
going to fail. 99% of just about anything is crap. But failing shouldn't
depress you. Nor should you get overly tied to emotional success, less hubris
be your downfall.

So get emotionally tied to your instincts: let that fervor help you push
through where other people give up. But realize: there's a reason other people
give up: you're likely going to fail. But, because you're you, you see things
differently than others have, and you can see /why/ they've failed and /how/
you'll succeed.

Is there a bit of a contradiction there? ...meh, who cares? If you /have/ to
create, that you're going to fail (most likely) won't stop you, and as a
result, you're less likely to fail. But if you do, don't be emotionally tied
up in the failure (or the success).

Capiche?

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JacobAldridge
There's definitely a difference between gut feel instinct and emotional
processing. There's also a third element, which is analysing data.

The difference lies in how you like to receive, process, and communicate
information - for example, speaking personally, I take a lot of time to
process a decision because I do so through a range of emotions, while many
intuitive people I know make the same decision much faster.

Also be mindful that the power of these influences differ for different
people, and there's no right or wrong. Which is right for you?

For more information, check out a company I work with (UK Based) is focussed
on these differences - <http://www.thinkfeelknow.com/what.html>

If that doesn't answer your question, I apologise.

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mdakin
"Instinct" in this sense refers to "intuition." A less ambiguous statement
would be "follow your intuition." Intuition refers to suspecting that
something is true that you've not yet proven to be true.

An emotion is a subjective form of an intuition. You have emotions about
questions that may be answered many ways, and must be answered in a personal
way. In general you could not prove an emotion to be true.

I think the point is to go with the non-emotional instincts over the emotional
ones when there is a conflict.

Personally, when my emotions and intuitions about something are out of sync I
know I have a problem and perhaps some more rigor/attention is warranted. I
don't like operating if the emotional and non-emotional instincts are out of
sync.

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qaexl
In the context of decision making, emotions are those impulses within you that
you perceive to "move". Though there are lots of emotions -- anger, hatred,
jealousy, joy, lust, etc. -- those emotions come from two basic sources: fear
(repulsion) and pleasure (attraction).

By movement, I specifically mean the direction of attention. We tend to avoid
paying attention to what we fear, and strive to pay attention to what gives us
pleasure. When making a conscious decision, fear (uncertainty, and doubt) is
what makes a person hesitate. Pleasure (lust, greed) is what makes a person
jump in without regard to risk. You perceive emotions by movement. You have to
stand still (mentally speaking), then watch for the movement in the emotions.
Because our attention naturally shy away from what we fear, those things tends
to get ignored. Because our attention naturally seeks out what we like, we
tend to cling to and attach ourselves to those things. When we cling to things
we like, we also tend to fear losing them.

Instinct generally refers to survival instincts, and as such are closely tied
with emotions.

Intuition, what I think those quotes refer to, don't refer to the absence of
emotions so much as being in a state of mind where you are mentally still so
you an observe all the movements of emotions. When you observe a particular
emotional impulse long enough, it will identify itself to you (that is, you
can rationally verbalize that emotional impulse). Once the emotion is
identified and heard, they generally pass on and trouble you no more. At some
point, you're left with just mental stillness. That's where intuition kicks
in.

Just so you know, while some of this sounds like Freudian psychology, where I
practice these ideas actually comes from my practice of martial arts. There is
not enough time to stand there analyzing the angles and force vectors of an
incoming blow, much less formulate a response. That is way too slow. Yet,
someone who merely acts just on reflex isn't always able to prevail. There are
people with enough trained awareness to manipulate someone's purely reflexive
movements. To do well, you have to be able to not only have clear intuition,
you have to be able to physically act on it to take advantage of the tiny
moments of opportunity. Otherwise, you are unable to seize the initiative and
execute on your strategy.

The story passed in martial arts lore is looking into a pool of water: when
there are ripples, it is hard to see the reflection. You have to wait for the
ripples to smooth over. When the reflection is clear, your image is clear, it
looks almost like the real thing. But if it looks too real, and you reach out
to touch the image to prove its realness, then ripples form, breaking its
clarity. That's the nature of intuition.

I can't say I have successfully applied this to a startup, but maybe you will
be able to.

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volida
Emotions are for something real and you have to learn to handle them.

Instinct is about something you don't know and may not exist, therefore the
only way to know is only by trying.

To follow your insticts and dont get too emotionally attached to something,
contains action. therefore actions involve something else, called ability to
execute.

That is why execution is above everything.

But excluding an action e.g. not get too emotionally attached, which is
translated not to be dedicated, is something that may prevent you from
fulfilling your instincts.

In short, you get to decide what you wanna do. Either live the emotions of not
following your instincts or live the emotions of trying to make those
instincts a reality.

~~~
langer
I understand that execution can be an implementation of your instincts,
however execution can also involve acting on your emotions.

"something real" could also be "something you don't know and may not exist" so
I don't quite see how that answers the question. Could you give an example to
articulate what you mean?

~~~
volida
emotions are generated from a mental situation when you face a fact.

of course, an instinct may be a result of deep concentration and experience of
extreme downside and upside emotions, which may be concluded as a new fact
that may cause you a varierty of new emotions, maybe that of happiness and
anticipation to make you to complete your dreams or avoid a sad situation.

maybe, instinct is an emotion of intution after all.

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chris_l
From wikipedia: "Instinct is the inherent disposition of a living organism
toward a particular behavior. Instincts are generally inherited patterns of
responses or reactions to certain kinds of stimuli."

I don't think you want to follow this in running your startup. I would rather
recommend Intuition, or following a higher, above-rational understanding,
rather than your animal reflexes. Intuition is most effective when not clouded
by emotions, hence by becoming emotionally detached you can better use
Intuition.

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gills
Trust yourself while you're building and growing.

If you fail: don't spend the rest of your life kicking yourself, walking in
circles, and murmuring "they just didn't see the vision" under your breath.
Learn and move on.

If you succeed: let the product evolve with your customers or the needs of
company X that bought you out. Learn and move on.

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MaysonL
Probably a clearer word than "instinct" in this context would be "intuition".

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jpeterson
They're really quite different. Instinct is your mind's way of clueing you in
on something that you didn't know you knew.

Emotion is just a reaction.

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stevenwagner
Instinct is a type of emotion. Instinct is the opposite of intuition. Instinct
is from the past. Intuition is from the future.

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viergroupie
Other questions for PG:

\- Why does God allow evil?

\- Does P = NP?

\- How does it feel to be so gosh darn awesome?

