Domestic violence and abuse can happen to anyone, but sadly it is often overlooked, excused, or denied. Most define abuse as physical, but it can also be psychological. Emotional abuse can cause just as much, if not more damage. It is difficult to understand why some chose to live in fear of the person they love and stay in abusive relationships and/or marriages. Whether it be for love, finances, religious beliefs, low self-esteem, fear, shame or isolation; these emotions have led the abuse victim to making a poor choice to stay in such a situation. It is difficult for a person being abused to admit that feelings betray their emotions and lead to irrational thinking. .
In the book, "How We Decide," Jonah Lehrer explores how we make decisions and helps us to understand corrupted thought processes. Lehrer investigates people's own decisions so that we many learn from them and hopefully make corrections in patterns of destructive behavior. The human mind is the most complicated object in the universe and worthy of further self exploration. When making decisions we are supposed to consciously analyze the pros and cons of our choices. I want to explore what happens in the mind when a person makes bad decisions, specifically-stay in an abusive relationship and/or marriage. I want to use Lehrer's studies of the mind as a tool to apply to the inexplicable passions that swindle a person into accepting a life of abuse. .
Human beings have learned to detest the potential of losses. However, most people are happy to make sacrifices if it ensures a feeling of stability, which can be defined in many ways. Solidity, strength, security, and safety: each perceived differently depending on whether it is being approached from a logical or emotion place. A person who stays in an abusive relationship is someone who sacrifices his or her happiness and safety for a disillusioned idea of companionship, this condition is known as loss aversion.