Emotions

BASIC Emotions

Along with our intelligence and our personality, our emotions are an important ingredient when taking decisions. In this section we will look at two very powerful emotions: fear and anger. They may influence our decisions, and in particular occasions they can be so intense that they can dominate us. Therefore, it is important to know them and to control them. There are six basic emotions:

Fear

When in danger, fear moves us to take refuge, to run away from a dangerous situation. This kind of fear we can call it rational fear: it is rational to feel fear when a dog growls and shows its teeth or when the doctor tells us we have a serious illness.

But there is another kind of fear, irrational fear. Irrational fear is not the result of a dangerous situation, there is no real danger involved, but only an imagined danger. There are many examples of irrational fears, but most of them fall into one of the following cases:

• 1. When we transfer a rational fear to a new situation that is not dangerous. Falling from a high altitude is very dangerous, and we fear it. Some people fear elevators because they think about falling. But elevators are safe machines.

  2. When we believe that fantasy stories, like those in movies or in TV shows, can become real. Some people are afraid of dark places because those are the places where horrible things happen in horror movies. Other people are afraid of spiders, even small ones, because they exaggerate horror stories of spiders attacking people.

  3. When we are uncertain about something and we imagine the worst will happen. We are afraid of going to the doctor because because we imagine we may be gravely ill. We are afraid of telling our parents that we have failed an exam because we imagine they will punish us.

And some of our worst irrational fears result from a combination of these three mechanisms.

For instance, some people are afraid of wild animals even when they are in a zoo. This may be because wild animals are really dangerous (and they transfer their rational fear to a new situation that is not so dangerous). But also because the may have seen horror movies that happen in zoos (fantasy stories). And finally because accidents sometimes happen in zoos and they imagine that the worst will happen to them.

Controlling irrational fears

Irrational fears can easily make us take wrong decisions. But we can control our irrational fears.

These are some of the things we can do for controlling our irrational fears:

• • Admit that you are afraid. This is the first thing we have to do. Instead of fabricating excuses, we should first of all admit that we are afraid.

• Be rational. Our irrational fear is probably one of the three types above, so we should think about the origin of our fear. Is our fear the result of a rational fear transferred to a new situation? Is it the result of a story or a movie? Or is it because we are unsure about something?

  • Search for support. Family and friends can help us to see things clearly. Their support is key for confronting our irrational fears.

  • Talk to ourselves. In addition to family and friends, and sometimes when they are not available, we can overcome our fears talking to ourselves, encouraging ourselves.

  • Finally, to be in good physical shape gives us confidence, so it also helps to defeat our irrational fears.

Emotions and decisions

As we have seen with the examples of fear and anger, it is very important to remember that:

• • Emotions influence greatly our decision taking and in general influence the way we behave and treat the people around us.

  • We have to learn to identify our emotions as a first step towards controlling them.

  • We have to express our emotions instead of repress them. But with negative emotions such as fear and anger, we also have to forget them after expressing them, otherwise we may stay in fear or angry for a long time.

  • Our thinking and our habits help us to control our emotions.