Rationality as a weakness?

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Hey everyone!

Recently, I had to go through some psychological testing for a leadership screening. (My employer has no idea that I am a diagnosed Aspie) The result was that I am too rational, not acknowledging my emotions. I'd never deny that I am a rational person, but until then, I never thought of rationality as a bad thing. I for my part would prefer a superior who makes logical decisions to one who is led by irrational emotions. I'd bet that a rational employee is better for business, too. Why would they want someone whose emotions meddle with his or her performance?

And why would they assume I don't acknowledge my emotions if I just don't feel the things they asked about. They were unhelpful emotions, too. NTs are strange sometimes. *shaking my head*

So what do you think? Is our rationality our strength or our weakness?

In most cases, I view it as a strength. It allows us to take the time to step back and view the situation - see what the correct choice is without rushing into it because of our emotions. The disadvantage is that sometimes these can take a few minutes.

Or, there's also the situation of I can't move in with my girlfriend yet ><

I know money's and issue, and I know that she's waiting to get her masters degree first...

But, even so...

><

@littleblacksheep - looking at your avatar, I found this complementary movie.

Last edited by redrobin62 on 13 May 2013, 12:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.

You probably need to accept emotions to be able to communicate and understand other people at work, who can be very emotional.

There should be niche for less emotional, more rational people in leadership.

I would say rationality is best in environments focusing on accuracy, quality, and efficiency (more on the productivity side). It becomes less useful when dealing with coworkers or the public, such as customer service or deciding to let a person have a day off, or how to place a team together or assign projects without offending someone. I guess this could boil down to inanimate vs people, but leadership in general tends towards dealing with people vs pure rationality.

Personally I think I make a good second in command (keeping track of and pursuing tasks, passing along information, acting on a specific set of instructions etc.), but I don't think I'd make a good first in command (deciding when to dismiss people, inspiring morale, letting people down without being too blunt, picking out who works well together, etc.).

Rationality is not necessarily a weakness. It may be a less desirable trait than conviviality in a social environment, or murderous aggression in a combat environment, to cite two examples.

"Logic is the beginning of wisdom, not the end."

Spock, Star Trek VI

It is my assumption you are not applying for a job as a Social Worker with deeply disturbed and needy kids who are from dysfunctional families, as this would be an atypical gig for an Aspie (I'm not saying it doesn't occur from time to time, but I will say this is not something I'd ever considering doing).

IMHO, being rational is a quality that is of great importance in many jobs -- it certainly was of benefit to me when I worked in software tech companies, where too often NT people would be running around like idiots directing everyone's attention on one particular problem while everything else went straight to hell in a hand basket. And I had been formally diagnosed as Aspie, but had kept his fact under wraps. I was receiving treatment for co-morbid symptoms: ADHD, Social Anxiety. I'd managed to keep Autism below the insurance radar.

Being rational is really important in many work situations: medical gigs, police work...pretty much anywhere you are not expected to be warm and cuddly and give hugs and be all sweetness and light. And there is a lot more of the work that is stressful and requires a "cool head" than there is the soft and cuddly sort. You might find it interesting that I'd considered working in hospice for a time because I am not afraid of death and have seen that I can communicate this feeling calmly to others who are. But there are a lot of melodramatic people in this world who, for reasons often make no sense to me, love to generate feelings of panic and upset in other people or thrive on creating stress because they believe "people get things done when they are driven by anxiety."

I am exactly the opposite. I start fumbling and take lots longer getting anything done when someone keeps me in a state of anxiety. And I very quickly learn to resent any person who does this to me. Leadership roles are best achieved by people who can maintain a balanced outlook and, even if they may like certain people better than others, be able to maintain an impartial attitude. I totally despised being managed by people who played favorites and made this apparent -- but you're preaching to the choir, here. I am another person who is Aspie or HFA, depending on who did the Dx and when. Would I prefer a Doctor who is rational? Absolutely! But many people would not because they cannot "play" such people emotionally.

OK, so you didn't SAY you are an Aspie when you applied for the gig -- but had you done so you may have had a clear case of Job Discrimination. And as for needing to accept and communicate emotions....you didn't say you were unable to DO this -- your preference is to take a rational approach. We're kind of in a "damned if we do and damned if we don't" situation, at times. If we blow our tops or have a melt down (which I've been known to do on occasion) people who don't know we're Autistic in some form think we're kind of nuts and can draw some rather ugly and insulting conclusions. If we TELL people we have a form of Autism and show anger or upset, NT people are quite likely to become terrified and dial 911 "because people on the spectrum are unpredictable." As IF ordinary people make SENSE?! I'm thinking you might try interviewing (experimentally, of course) for a similar position with a different company that does pretty much the same things and see if you are handed the same crap about being "too rational". I'm a firm believer in always getting a second, objective opinion.

It is an issue in one way:

For thse Aspies who like to determine what people are likely to do in a rational manner, not including emotions in the calcuation leads to a disaster. You might have a perfectly reasonable thought process, but emotionally, another person might not be willing to accept it.

That is already the property of a good leader. Most people who work in management are a bit less emotional, and if they are more rational its a bonus.

Thanks for your comments. As it is I am not at all keen on becoming a superior. I love having to deal with projects rather than people. However, it would not have been advisable to refuse to participate. Although I wouldn't be too sad not to be chosen, I am surprised by the rationality criticism.

Well, I guess you are right in suggesting that emotional people understand other emotional people better than very rational people and superiors have to deal with emotional people all the time. If I had a company I would only employ rational people who wouldn't mind rational superiors doing what will achieve the best result.

Of course it is only to be expected that you all reply with rationality. You are, after all not emotional beings. However, we do not live in an "aspie world" we put up with an NT world. NTs expect some emotional understanding from their superiors, especially if they are approaching a problem that has bearing on their emotional state being an end towards their solution. For instance:- an employee may approach their superior asking "what are the moral implications for this {Insert topic} .." There is no rational answer.

Wrong, Billy.

We are emotional beings.

We just express our emotions in ways that neurotypicals might find inappropriate or out of proportion to the context.


Irrationality, and even morality can be described in rational terms. Morality, however, is the differentiation of intentions, decisions, and actions between those that are "good" and those that are "evil" Thus, morality is more a topic of debate in religious or philosophical circles than in any scientific or legislative forum.

Agree with this.

Also, I believe people are becoming more and more rational with time, so the emotional factor won't be much of an issue at some point in the future.

I also think rationality is a plus. I know too much of girls who give up everything for love and end up being hurt or losing everything they gave up. They needed to rationalize first if it was reasonable to give up everything in the first place. BUT if you do feel certain emotions and they are ignored for rationality, it could be a problem.

But since you say you don't feel the emotions they asked of you, then I see no problem. For example, I could feel sad to not be invited to an event, although by rational, I should be working on homework. Say I stick to my rational side of things. Sure my homework gets done in a timely manner, but at the cost of feeling lonely due to ignoring my emotions.

In either case I think being very rational is much better than being too guided by emotions. I consider myself a bit too emotional and need to be more rational on certain things.