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Rational people: these are its 5 characteristics

Rational people: these are its 5 characteristics

March 28, 2024

Rational people are not very common , because in the end what we understand today as rationality is a recent invention. And it is that normally the existence of these individuals depends on where they were born and where education has been received during childhood and youth. Even today, adults on a large part of planet Earth continue to be guided by totally irrational beliefs and superstitions.

However, despite its rarity, when we are before a rational person is recognized immediately ... if we pay attention to the right signals.

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So are rational people in their day to day

Below you can see a list of features that define rational people in their way of thinking and relating to others. Keep in mind, however, that in spite of the stereotypes that run about people with an analytical mindset, it's not about robots . Someone rational can also be very emotional in certain occasions; the difference is in the way in which emotions are regulated.


1. They wait for the best time to make important decisions

It is very common that, in practice, the first moment in which we must make a choice or make a decision coincides with a time when we are very emotionally activated.

Think, for example, that we are being told that we have been accepted at a prestigious university located outside our country: if we let ourselves be carried away by the euphoria, we may accept the seat and begin to make expenditures for the transfer before considering whether we have enough savings to opt for that route, or if there are other responsibilities to attend in our city of residence.

That's why rational people do not rush when making relevant decisions , at least if they believe that there is an emotional state that is biasing the interpretation of the facts.


2. They know that emotion and rationality are unbreakable

Even the most rational people are aware that human beings can not pretend to be robots, purely objective entities that analyze the facts coldly and distancing themselves from the facts. To believe otherwise would mean having no defenses to prevent cognitive biases and fall into a dogmatism according to which nothing is debatable.

So, taking into account that emotions influence both the place where our attention is focused and the conclusions reached when analyzing that selected information, rational people have the opportunity to retrace their steps and ask themselves if they made any mistake in their way of reasoning.

  • Related article: "Are we rational or emotional beings?

3. Believe in the power of consensus

However objective and rational we pretend to be, we do not have an immediate access to the truth. That is why consensus helps us to better understand what is happening. Why? Why By combining ideas and points of view, new explanations appear and solutions to questions.


Thus, rationality implies, by force, exchange of points of view and debate. It is not a linear thinking process carried out by a single person, for a very simple reason: being human means having access to a very limited amount of information and not having time to learn everything about reality . There will always be someone who knows more than we do about a particular topic, and the most reasonable thing is to listen to what you have to say.

4. They experience their social relationships in a constructive way

Tender towards rationality means that, faced with the possibility of fighting with a friend or relative, do not act from spite and the desire for revenge .

Thus, the way in which these disputes are managed is based on the fact that the objective is not to make our actions correspond to what we are feeling, but to what it should be. It is an important nuance that, although it does not imply that one is not going to make the other suffer (assuming that an exemplary punishment will make a similar situation) avoids many unnecessary dramas, since an emotional reaction increases the chances that an emotional response appears on the part of the other.

  • Maybe you're interested: "8 characteristics of immature people emotionally

5. They try to foresee the risks

Another defining characteristic of rational people is that they do not easily give in to their impulses , because before taking actions that can compromise someone's well-being, consider the risks and benefits.

Of course, this is a relative characteristic, since there is no human being capable of stopping to think constantly about what the consequences of their actions may be in the medium and long term.However, rational people do it much more frequently than the rest, and they are especially good at detecting those moments in which it is worthwhile to stop and think and not give in to the most immediate desires.


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