Emotional reasoning is a cognitive process by which we shape an idea or belief based on how we feel. This is perhaps the most common form of self-botage, one in which I feel sad is because there are only misfortunes in my life, in which if I feel jealous it is because my partner has a secret intention to be unfaithful at the moment when I least expect it.
Reasoning based on how we feel is something we’ve all done more times than we think, it’s a trap, a dirty trick of our brain, which sometimes has trouble interpreting and managing its emotions correctly, in turn, the observed evidence won’t either. matter because every objective and rational fact is deliberately ignored or discarded in favor of the “truth” assumed by his own feelings.
- “If our thinking is blocked by distorted symbolic meanings.
- Illogical reasoning.
- And misinterpretations.
- We become truly blind and deaf.
- HE’S THE ONLY ONE.
- Beck-.
So it doesn’t matter, for example, that our work and our home are not the same, because sometimes, when we get stressed, exhausted and irritated home and our partner makes an inappropriate comment, we end up projecting our negative emotions into Is it because after all?Everyone wants the same thing: make you unhappy.
We could probably cite many other examples, some of which achieve the most absurd irrationality, as someone who gets on the park’s hardest toy and suddenly feels convinced that he will die, then with the firm and desperate idea of running away from that risk. who believes it is real and imminent, decides to release the security mechanisms, putting his life in real danger.
Does emotional reasoning lead us to a real storm, to an absolute chaos of distorted thoughts, a situation from which we rarely come out unscathed?
Here we can bring Paul MacLean’s interesting theory about the triumphant brain, we can talk about the second brain, the limbic, which formed from the reptile brain and that controls and shapes our emotional behavior, which, for many people, regulates processes as basic as conventional conditioning or operational conditioning, and it is he who sometimes makes us act unreasonably and even irrationally.
However, it should be noted that for neuroscience this model is not solid because our brain is actually a unique, interconnected and sophisticated structure in which no specific area assumes control over us from nothing and exclusively.
However, it is undeniable that, in the vast majority of cases, we let emotions reason for us, falling into this primitive trap in which the strength of a feeling forms a conviction that has nothing to do with reality.
On the one hand, there is our ability to analyze, reflect, induction and this principle of logic if necessary to establish strong relationships and get out of a certain situation successfully and effectively. At the same time, it is worth mentioning that emotional reasoning is one of the pillars of cognitive therapy founded by Aaron Beck in the 1970s, his theories and approaches are of great use in understanding this kind of mechanism, so unhealthy.
Let’s see what’s next
Sometimes, as we walk at dawn in a park or on top of a mountain, we can see how thick smoke envelops us, however, this smoke is not the result of a fire, nothing burns, it’s just fog. The mere fact of provoking in our minds this subtle balance between reason and emotion, will certainly allow us to draw much more subtle and correct conclusions in our daily lives.
However, whoever gets carried away by the impulse of emotion will be trapped in a fear that blurs and distorts everything, we will see fires where there are only quiet pastures, at the same time this phenomenon gives shape to what Aaron Beck defined in his day as a kind of sabotage of our own mind, a kind of cognitive distortion in which we let ourselves be carried exclusively by the most unfavorable pole of our negative emotions.
Most of us don’t pay much attention to how we feel, nor wonder where our reactions come from, and almost without realizing it, we allow automatic thoughts to take full control of our lives.
As we can see, do we produce real fumes from non-existent fires that fully compromise our quality of life, our personal relationships, and our personal growth?
Cognitive behavioral therapy, based on Aaron Beck’s own approaches, is a good attempt to mitigate this type of cognitive distortion. Here are some basic strategies you can think about:
In conclusion, we know that the main problem with emotional reasoning is that once we allow our people to become assumed truths, it is very difficult to leave these storm-inhabited islands, however, it is necessary to take control of our emotional universes.
“If we are what we think, then we must allow these thoughts to make us free, happy, and competent.
References
Beek, A. (1985), Cognitive Depression Therapy. Payments
Blanchette, I. (2013), Emotion and reasoning. Psychology press
Damasio, A. (2010), Descartes’ mistake, emotion and reason.