What are pros and cons of making a tattoo?

Is the "do the pros outweigh the cons" argument valid in decision making?

• Quite often people find themselves in situations where they have to make decisions: Do I date (or not date) this person? Do I take this job? Should I move to this new place? Which vacation should I go on? Should I buy this dress? Which class should I take? And so on and so forth. Quite commonly, a technique people use to make these decisions are by making a list of pros and a list of cons (i.e. Pro: This job pays more than my last job. Con: It's mind numbing work), and then proceed to have an inner (and sometimes outer) debate with themselves and/or other people about whether or not the pros outweigh the cons. I'm sure you're all familiar with this technique. So my question is this: Is this way of decision making valid? Sub-questions are, does this way of reasoning work on all "one or the other" type decisions? Is there a generalized outcome from making decisions this way? I just want to know, should I use this type of reasoning to make decisions?

• Answer:

  Definitely. It is way more rational than, say, the "follow your heart" method. I believe it is superior wherever applicable. The faults, if any, due to this approach is mostly down to the user and involve mistakes in assigning logical values to the various pros and cons or not considering all the relevant factors. This forms the basis of game theory, which explores rational choices and decisions when people are offered such alternatives.