BE AN “AMIABLE SKEPTIC”
The tough part about separating your emotions from your reasoning is that there are lots of people out there who’d rather you remain emotional-like the boss or spouse who uses emotion-inciting ploys to get you to do something you don’t want to do. To prevent yourself from being lured into making bad decisions, it’s important to view things with a critical eye, says Diane Halpern, Ph.D., a professor of psychology at California State University. That means developing what she calls an attitude of amiable skepticism. Amiable, because it doesn’t entail an adversarial relationship with the world. You can be doubtful and still be cheerful. You can decide to reserve judgment when you sense you’re being swayed against your will. It begins with advertising and extends to telephone salesmen offering trips to Hawaii for $300 and all the way to politicians promising to be kinder while they’re active tougher.