How does emotion affect reason

Emotions can play an important role in how you think and behave. The emotions you feel each day can compel you to take action and influence the decisions you make about your life, both large and small. Emotions can be short-lived, such as a flash of annoyance at a co-worker, or long-lasting, such as enduring sadness over the loss of a relationship. But why exactly do we experience emotions? What role do they serve? Emotions are influenced by a network of interconnected structures in the brain that make up what is known as the limbic system.

Key structures including the hypothalamus, the hippocampus , the amygdala, and the limbic cortex play a pivotal role in emotions and behavioral responses. In order to truly understand emotions, it is important to understand the three critical components of an emotion. Each element can play a role in the function and purpose of your emotional responses.

When faced with a nerve-wracking exam, you might feel a lot of anxiety about whether you will perform well and how the test will impact your final grade. Because of these emotional responses , you might be more likely to study.

Since you experienced a particular emotion, you had the motivation to take action and do something positive to improve your chances of getting a good grade. You also tend to take certain actions in order to experience positive emotions and minimize the probability of feeling negative emotions. For example, you might seek out social activities or hobbies that provide you with a sense of happiness , contentment, and excitement.

On the other hand, you would probably avoid situations that might potentially lead to boredom, sadness , or anxiety. Emotions increase the likelihood that you will take an action. When you are angry , you are likely to confront the source of your irritation.

When you experience fear, you are more likely to flee the threat. When you feel love, you might seek out a partner. Naturalist Charles Darwin was one of the earliest researchers to scientifically study emotions. He believed that emotions are adaptations that allow both humans and animals to survive and reproduce. He suggested that emotional displays could also play an important role in safety and survival.

If you encountered a hissing or spitting animal, it would clearly indicate that the creature was angry and defensive, leading to you back off and avoid possible danger.

Emotions can also prepare the body to take action. The amygdala, in particular, is responsible for triggering emotional responses that prepare your body to cope with things like fear and anger. Sometimes this fear can trigger the body's fight-or-flight response , which leads to a number of physiological responses that prepare the body to either stay and face the danger or flee to safety. Emotions serve an adaptive role by prompting you to act quickly and take actions that will maximize your chances of survival and success.

Your emotions have a major influence on the decisions you make, from what you decide to have for breakfast to which candidates you choose to vote for in political elections. Several years ago psychology researchers in Australia set up a mock trial experiment in which study volunteers were jury members.

The fictional case was a man on trial for murdering his wife. Some mock jurors heard gruesome verbal descriptions of the murder, while others saw gruesome photographs. Not so for the photos. But is that necessarily a bad thing? In a similar experiment, another research group tried to make some mock jurors feel sadness by telling them about trauma experienced by both the victim and the defendant. The jurors who felt sad were more likely than others to accurately spot inconsistencies in witness testimony, suggesting more careful decision-making.

For example, is a color photo more influential than black and white? And what about videos? Do three-dimensional animations of the crime scene now somewhat common in trials lead to bias by allowing jurors to picture themselves as the victim?

What we need is more data. Heinous is a somewhat subjective term, and one that arguably could be — must be? There was no question that Collins had had a baby, that she knew it, and that the baby had died of drowning. The judge asked the medical examiner whether he thought the photos would add anything to his testimony. He replied that the only extra thing the pictures would depict was what the baby looked like, including her size.

So the jury saw two of the autopsy photos, and ultimately found Collins guilty of murder. Several years later, however, an appeals court reversed her conviction because of the prejudicial autopsy photos. Evidence which only appeals to sympathies, conveys a sense of horror, or engenders an instinct to punish should be excluded. There may be logical arguments to be made either way, but in the moment, the decision is driven by your emotional state.

Different emotions affect decisions in different ways. But sadness can also make you more generous — research shows that unhappy people are more likely to be in favor of increasing benefits to welfare recipients than angry people, who are lacking in empathy. Anger can lead to impatience and rash decision-making.

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