Emotions can be consciously developed or discouraged by training oneself to react more or less emotionally—or with more of one kind of emotion and less of another—in certain circumstances. By avoiding my emotions and bodily reactions, I literally became emotionally-handicapped and I didn’t even know it! It has become something of a platitude in contemporary psychology that emotions have evolved along with human beings and are therefore the product of natural selection. Anger may have been a useful stimulus of aggression in prehistoric times, but it can be deleterious or generally dysfunctional in a modern urban environment. Sometimes, you don’t need to know the answer, but rather just give yourself permission to be messy. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. This results in a conflict within myself that seems too difficult to even attempt to understand. By emotionally accepting that this is indeed natural, normal and most importantly, a part of you, your emotional processes feels freed. I have personally experienced this cycle of questioning whether or not my emotions are irrational or logical, way too many times and many of my clients report experiencing similar sensations and patterns. In anger, people often act and think irrationally. Having the right emotions in the right amounts and in the right circumstances, as he argued, is the essence of virtue and the key to human flourishing. Moreover, emotions (or particular emotions) may well be byproducts of other evolved traits. While this behavior was embedded into my daily routine and comfort zone, it wasn’t until years later that I began to see it for what it really was… damaging. An example of (2) is: Smith is angry at Jones for saying something offensive, but in fact what Jones said was not offensive because it was not intentional or because it was an accurate and constructive criticism of Smith, for which Smith should not be offended or angry. We then get into adult relationships in hopes of experiencing movie-inspired love and true intimacy, but fall completely on our asses over and over again when we realize it doesn’t exist. other way around - and it takes YEARS of Deliberate training to accomplish it. To be jealous in certain cultures and in certain circumstances may be perfectly appropriate and therefore rational. Our emotions don’t always make practical sense or innately follow societal norms. But behaviour and thoughts can be rational or irrational, and culture imposes its own standards of rationality. Required fields are marked *. Eyal Winter, Ph.D., is a professor of economics at the Hebrew University and the author of Feeling Smart: Why Our Emotions Are More Rational Than We Think. Click here for instructions on how to enable JavaScript in your browser. We should stop acting like a baby, even when we are too young to process and identify the emotions we are having to convey to our parents what we need effectively. Guilt makes us a “thing”, often as failures incapable of any success. ... Human emotions are, in reality, an integral part of competent decision making. I retract, shallow again, and listen to the loud voice that continues to tell me, “stop being so sensitive.”. Our emotions don’t always make practical sense or … Black Friday Sale! When we are children, we are often told we shouldn’t cry. Modern neuroscience has come to much the same conclusion. Experiencing the conflict can be really difficult to navigate for some of us. Emotions are a physiological response to stimulus in a similar way to a reflex. This phenomena can be considered transference. We unconsciously protect our emotions in fear of how our feelings will be interpreted to our partner, so we revert the other way and typically behave in ways that push them away instead because it’s easier. Your email address will not be published. Finally, emotions can be rational in the sense that they can be used to achieve certain basic human goals and aspirations. Your email address will not be published. Can you relate? I was missing the core foundation of what was coming deep within myself. For philosophers such as Plato (c. 428–c. In the first example the anger is irrational because it is based on a false belief about the situation; in the second it is irrational because it involves an unjust or unfair evaluation. Acceptance can actually become very empowering. In yet another sense, emotions can be rational insofar as they are functional. By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. It inheriently dismisses my [“stupid”] emotional reaction as it tries to make logic of my  [“irrational”] natural responses. The fact that emotions involve behaviour, thoughts, and culture raises the question of whether or to what extent emotions are rational. 348 bce) and David Hume (1711–76), who conceived of emotion and rationality as conflicting opposites, such a question was inappropriate from the start. Are our emotions irrational or logical? I know exactly when it’s happening. “Irrational” is the opposite of “logical” and when our brains cannot make sense of why we are feeling a certain way, we end up with uncomfortable confusion in an internal conflict that feels self-defeating. An example of (1) is: Smith is angry at Jones for saying something offensive, when in fact Jones said no such thing and there is no good reason to think that he did. Remorse, on the other hand, is the “process” from which we can choose to change our beliefs that inform how we … And emotions can help you make rational decisions. Just because something is rational doesn’t mean it’s desirable, and that applies often to emotions. You roll around inside mom’s belly EMOTING hunger and frustration and growth, Transmitting Your needs TO the supplier of your needs. I hope this helps normalize our tendencies to protect ourselves emotionally, as well as our intern conflicts when it comes to answering the question, Are our emotions  irrational or logical? It can be rational if we are showing our positive emotion to that particular person or situation. It was all in fear of exposing my emotions to others and getting rejected. Because emotions are the product not only of culture but also of one’s behaviour and attitudes over time, one is to a certain extent responsible for them. So go ahead…. But what is less often emphasized is that anger can result in behaviour and thoughts that are quite rational, in the sense that they are strategically successful in articulating or channeling the emotion into constructive action. It does not follow, however, that any particular emotion was individually selected for, or that emotions still serve, the functions that may have made them valuable in the past. Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. Thanks for reading! For Aristotle, this kind of training is part of the process of cultivating a good moral character in oneself. An emotion can also be rational or irrational in two more specific senses: (1) it can be more or less accurate in the perception or understanding of the situation it involves; and (2) it can be more or less warranted in its evaluation of the situation. Currently you have JavaScript disabled. I dare you! So, are our emotions irrational or logical? Nevertheless, as a general rule, emotions do play an important role in people’s personal and social lives. They have developed as a response to evolution. When we are adolescents and teenagers, we are often told by grown-ups that our emotional responses are “not that big of a deal,” and that we shouldn’t “take things so personally.” We may fall in love for the first time and get our hearts broken or have a close friend completely betray our friendship. Why? Plato, marble portrait bust, from an original of the 4th century, In order to carry out correct behaviour—that is to say, correct in relation to the survival of the individual—humans have developed innate drives, desires, and emotions and the ability to remember and learn. I instantly, (as if the swallow ignites a domino effect), remind myself, “you’re being ridiculous, don’t cry.”, My inner-talk becomes overwhelmingly loud and dominate. Why is it irrational to get angry that there is an odd number of pebbles in the fishbowl? 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