Most of us like to believe that our thoughts and decisions are usually based on dispassionate analysis of facts and circumstances. Psychologists, however, tell us that our emotions play a far greater role in our thinking than most of us realize. The influence of emotions on thinking can be either healthy or unhealthy.
Motivation
Thinking can be hard work. Before any thinking is done, you must be motivated to undertake that work. That motivation is supplied by your desire to attain a particular result--physical survival, wealth, pure philosophical truth, or any number of emotion-motivated ends to which thinking is a means.
Instinct
Sometimes actions must be taken before there is enough time to gather the information necessary to make an informed decision--a dangerous traffic situation on a dark road, for example. In such cases, hesitation may be more dangerous than making a wrong decision. When we face that type of situation, the body will react with fear and alarm, and compel us to make and execute a decision more rapidly than we would have if we had been thinking dispassionately, without considering available options.
Risk Aversion
Most people find it easier to vividly imagine adverse consequences than favorable ones--which is why film and literature contain far more vivid depictions of hell than of heaven. Since the human mind tends to imagine negative results more vividly than positive ones and reacts accordingly, an adverse consequence to a decision is likely to be avoided more than a favorable one related to the same decision is sought. For this reason, most people tend to be risk-averse in their decision making--they overvalue the possibility of an adverse consequence and choose to "play it safe" even when a dispassionate risk/return analysis would counsel them to take a risk.
Value Judgments
In many cases a number of choices can be made, each with different consequences--how to spend a $300 tax refund, for example. If the income is discretionary, there may be no rational way to determine whether to buy a new outfit or take a weekend trip to the ocean. In such situations, you must rely on your emotions to make the decision--in other words, you must decide which option you want the most.
Ego Traps
If your ego is fragile, you may make and stick to a bad decision out of fear of admitting your own earlier incompetence if you change your mind. This can lead to a disastrous cycle of escalating commitments as you make further investments into your original decision in order to protect your ego. This is why share traders sometimes lose extraordinarily large amounts of money on the stock market after becoming "wedded to a position."
Clouded Thinking
It is difficult for the mind to think clearly or quickly under the influence of strong emotion. This is why relationships are often destroyed when one partner makes a cruel comment "in the heat of the moment." It is also how salespersons sell "impulse buys" to people using high-pressure sales tactics or sexual titillation before revealing the true price or other details of the transaction.
