Emotional people and rational people, does this distinction exist?

There are those who point out that the world is distinguished between emotional people and rational people. What’s more, if there is something we like, it is to place ourselves in a category and attribute our way of behaving, reacting and living to that gradient where either emotions rule or logic and reason lead. However… are we doing the right thing by establishing this polarization?

The answer is no”. Emotions, although it may surprise us, are behind each and every one of our actions. and also, after any mental process. Every decision, every apparently logical and rational action has an emotional component behind it, and this is normal and expected due to a very specific fact: our brain is an emotional organ that, at a given moment in our evolution, began to reason. in a more sophisticated way.

It is impossible to separate reason from emotion because the neural structures that mediate each of our behaviors and decisions make use of both spheres. We are what we think, but above all, we are what we feel. Now, it is true that there are more impulsive people than others, men and women who allow themselves to be guided more by intuition than by that more thoughtful and consensual decision with a long exercise of reflection.

Be that as it may, we must be clear, emotion cannot be excluded from any behavior. Therefore, there is no one in this world who walks through life free of joy, fear, anguish, passion, disgust or shame… Let’s see more data below.

Emotional people and rational people, an erroneous distinction

There is a first indisputable fact that we should keep in mind: There is emotion in logic and often there is logic in emotion too. Now, a reality that we have been led to believe for a long time is that emotion is the opposite of reason, that emotion is of the heart and the heart is the antithesis of the brain. It is as if we were forced to declare ourselves on one side or another.

However, the world is not divided into emotional people and rational people. Myths are not just something of the wise men of Babylon or ancient Greece. In the world of psychology and neuroscience, these distorted ideas abound in excess.those where we convince ourselves, for example, that to make a good decision we must do it with a cool head and excluding emotions.

However, it should be noted that the fact that these ideas have been maintained so strongly over time is in some way due to figures from our past such as René Descartes. With his famous phrase «I think, therefore I am» we gave way to that modern philosophy and that age of reason, where enlightened thought associated emotions with the irrational.

Over time, it did not matter that Sigmund Freud introduced the concept of the unconscious mind and in turn told us about the power of emotion in our behavior. Until not long ago, the common denominator of the economy and the world of work, for example, continued to defend the need to maintain a rational mentality…

When in reality, as concepts such as “game theory” show us (where we study how our decisions vary when thinking about what others can do) Emotions are always a key and decisive component at the same time.

Emotions are also logical and rational

We pointed out above: emotions are also logical and rational. Feeling joy, enthusiasm, experiencing restlessness and even feeling fear at a given moment also defines rational behavior.. What’s more, studies such as those carried out at Columbia University by Dr. Michel Puan tell us that it is wrong to categorize people as emotional or rational.

All behavior applies both dimensions. What’s more, as we well know, no amount of thinking or reflecting on an aspect will make it more accurate. Sometimes we spend hours and days focused on ideas that are completely irrational and that interfere with our well-being..

Our prefrontal cortex connects to structures with emotional functions

The prefrontal cortex is that area where we carry out more complex executive functions. Among the most common are attention, the organization of information, decision making or the regulation of behavior to adjust to social norms. Well, something interesting that we must keep in mind is that this area, a reflection of our evolution, is connected to the areas that control our emotional world.

That is, emotions are always involved in each process. Therefore, it is a mistake to categorize ourselves as emotional people and rational people. We are all emotional beings acting rationally. What happens, and here is perhaps the greatest particularity, is that each person presents a specific behavioral pattern. There will be those who are more impulsive, others more cautious, there are those who let themselves be carried away more by their emotions and their adrenaline, while others exercise greater control over their behavior.

Be that as it may, and to conclude, We must be clear: emotions are our daily driving force. YesUnderstanding them, managing them and using them to our advantage will make us have a better quality of life.

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