Interesting Psychology Team
Emotional reasoning refers to the belief that your emotions are true indicators of the reality of any situation.
It’s easy to fall into this type of thinking, and most people do at some point in their lives, but you’ll find that your emotional state isn’t necessarily an accurate representation of the world around you.
If you find yourself doing this too often, pay attention to these 10 signs you rely too much on emotional reasoning.
1) Thinking in extremes
When faced with a complex decision, it’s natural to simplify by thinking in extremes. However, such black-and-white thinking can cloud our judgment, limiting our options and leading us to make bad decisions.
For example, research shows that when faced with a problem where there are many possible solutions (like how to design a new school curriculum), people often ask themselves: Is it right or wrong?
By thinking in extremes—allowing ourselves only two choices—we narrow down our thoughts too much. Instead of accepting every possibility—the way most good ideas come about—we reject everything but one solution.
This is likely because we avoid focusing on what’s good enough and seek perfection instead of progress. The result?
2) Ruminating about past failures
Some people dwell on past failures, while others ignore them and move forward. Both options are not ideal—and new research in psychological science suggests that ruminating about mistakes might be worse than moving forward.
Researchers at the University of Notre Dame found that rumination is linked to feelings of depression, a lack of self-control, and an unhealthy focus on future negative events.
The findings suggest that ruminating after a mistake might be just as bad as making mistakes in terms of negative consequences for your mental health and well-being. Ruminating is especially problematic if you’re prone to anxiety or depression—but it can affect anyone.
3) Overlooking positive events and experiences
Many people who rely too much on emotional reasoning have a tendency to brush off positive experiences. After all, if you have negative feelings, it must mean that your negative emotions are true, right? Wrong. You may be feeling frustrated or angry but that doesn’t mean your perception of reality is accurate.
For example, maybe you’re anxious about giving a speech at work because you don’t want to make a fool of yourself in front of your boss and coworkers. If you’re plagued by worry and self-doubt before your presentation (even though everything is going well), that doesn’t necessarily mean anything bad will happen when you actually get up there—it could just mean that deep down inside, you don’t believe in yourself or feel like an imposter in your current position.
