In the article The Futile Pursuit of Happiness by Jon Gertner, their were many experiments and conclusions about life and happiness. Loewenstein is one of the psychologists in the article and he concludes that people have "hot" and "cold" states which are also known as empathy gap. He states that a "hot" state is when we feel anxiety, fear, courage and are in the heat of the moment. "Cold" states are when we are calm and have time to process and think about the situation before making a decision. Loewenstein also states that during a "cold" state we really cannot predict how we will act in a "hot" state.
I think that Loewenstein is accurate with his research because almost everyone faces that time where we have to make a decision right off the back and we start having feelings of fear and anxiety. We also have come across obstacles where we have enough time to make rational decisions. Many of us always say that we would not do something in a hot state while we are in a "cold" state. For example if someone asked if we would have unprotected sex, most of us would say no. But the percentage of those who said no in a "cold" state actually ends up doing so in a "hot" state. We do these predictions all the time but then act differently when we are really in the situation.
Empathy gap has happened plenty of times in my life and it has caused me to make mistakes. Empathy gap occurred one time when I was at home discussing drinking alcohol with my grandmother. I told her that I would never drink too much alcohol at parties where I would be out of my state of mind or as you can call it “wasted”. One time at a party my friend kept giving me cups of what she was drinking and before I said no, I just decided to drink them not realizing how my condition would be. I did not end up doing something foolish, and I did not regurgitate but I was on the pathway of being there. In the morning I had a crucial headache and I was mad that I let myself drink to that capacity. This shows that empathy gaps really does happen and if we knew how to control our "hot" states then we would not make as many mistakes in life.
