Emotional reasoning

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Emotional reasoning is a cognitive error whereby a person who is nervous or anxious resorts to emotional reactions to determine a course of action. For example, an anxious test-taker might feel that he does not understand the material. He might feel as though he doesn't understand at all, but in fact is perfectly capable of answering the questions, and is merely insecure about it. By acting on the basis of his insecurity, he might assume he does not know the answers and guess randomly. Thus he creates a self-fulfilling prophecy of failure. In this way, emotional reasoning amplifies the effects of other cognitive distortions. From a different perspective emotion sometimes distorts critical thought, but also strengthens and improves it. In this sense, emotion can and should be integrated with critical thinking. Logic is an engine of production which functions more productively when it is carefully melded with feelings like empathy for other points of view or with courageous and creative thinking.