One Among Many

The self in social context

Reason and emotion: A note on Plato, Darwin, and Damasio

There is a place for reason and emotion in human decision-making. How the two relate to each other is a matter of considerable complexity. If emotions sometimes help us choose well, how do we know when to listen to them? There are some clues, but don't expect simple answers (Always follow your heart, not!).

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Reason over emotions

Hello sir Krueger,

I`m an amateur psychologist for a while now. I love reading psychology mainly related to the humans behavior and cognitive processes. One day a thought came up on my mind and for a while now I`m having troubles to argue my theory. I believe that you will consider my theory as ridiculous but I will be greatly thankful if you help me out or at least share your opinion on the question.
I think that the reason always has the last word when making a decision in different cases. If we take Freud's theory for the Id, Ego and Super-ego and we add the emotions, then we could say that a given emotion is affecting our Ego, then our Super-ego is giving an opinion, if this particular emotion could be expressed in real world with it's default expression, based on a conclusion that involves the moral, social, personal barriers, goals and models of behavior we know. In other words, if we hear a funny story should we laugh out loud or we should just smile regarding the environment we are currently situated in, would that be at work, at home or drinking beer with friends you know for a long long time. After that our reason under the affect of the emotion and based on the conclusion of our Super-ego decides how we should act. For example if you are at work, surrounded by your colleagues you would choose to just smile and laugh silently while if you are with your longtime friends you would laugh out loud.
Do you think that even under a strong affection we are still making decisions with our reason rather than emotions?

As I already said I will be really thankful if you at least share your opinion with me. My knowledge is nothing compared to yours so an advice from a specialist would be great. Thank you in advance good sir!

Best regards,
Dimitar

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Joachim Krueger, Ph.D., is a social psychologist at Brown University who believes that rational thinking and socially responsible behavior are attainable goals.

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