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

However, despite its rarity, when we are before a rational person we recognize him immediately… if we know how to pay attention to the right signs.

This is how rational people are in their daily lives

Below you can see a list of traits that define rational people in their way of thinking and relating to others. Keep in mind, however, that despite the stereotypes that run around about people with an analytical mindset, they are not robots . Someone who is rational can also be very emotional at certain times; the difference is in the way emotions are regulated.

1. Waiting for the best time to make important decisions

Very often, in practice, the first moment when we have to make a choice or a decision coincides with a moment when we become very emotionally activated.

Think, for example, of the announcement that we have been accepted into a prestigious university located outside our country: if we let ourselves be carried away by euphoria, we may accept the place and begin to make expenses for the transfer before considering whether we have sufficient savings to opt for that route, or whether there are other responsibilities to be attended to in our city of residence.

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

2. They know that emotion and rationality are indivisible

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

Thus, by 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 mistakes in their reasoning.

3. They believe in the power of consensus

No matter how objective and rational we pretend to be, we do not have immediate access to the truth. That’s why consensus helps us better understand what’s going on. Why? Because by combining ideas and points of view, new explanations and solutions to questions appear.

Rationality therefore necessarily involves an exchange of views 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 about a particular subject than we do, and the most reasonable thing to do is to listen to what he has to say.

4. They experience their social relationships in a constructive way

Tending towards rationality means that, when faced with the possibility of fighting with a friend or relative, one does not act out of spite and the desire for revenge .

So the way in which these disputes are managed assumes that the aim is not to make our actions correspond to what is being felt, but to what should be. This is an important nuance that, while it does not imply that the other person will not be made to suffer (assuming that an exemplary punishment will make a similar situation arise), it does avoid many unnecessary dramas, since an emotional reaction increases the chances of an emotional response from the other person.

5. They try to anticipate risks

Another of the defining characteristics of rational people is that they do not easily give in to their impulses , since before carrying out actions that may compromise someone’s well-being, they consider the risks and benefits.

Of course, this is a relative characteristic, since there is no human being capable of constantly stopping to think about what the consequences of his actions may be in the medium and long term. However, rational people do this much more often than others, and they are particularly adept at detecting those moments when it is worth stopping to think and not giving in to more immediate desires.