Are emotions irrational?

I don't know, but I'm so g*ddamn sensitive, it drives me crazy. I'm constantly rollercoastering, and I've gotta stifle myself, stuff it all inside. I feel kinda like a bull in a china shop, 'cept I'm only breakin' my own heart by feelin' bad. I'd be a lot more "successful" if I had no compassion and doubt in everything, especially myself. 

Depends on what you mean. If you mean "are emotions a result of a rational thought process that we can consciously access?", then the answer is no.

If you mean "are there fundamental processes that occur in the brain that are understandable, that give rise to the conscious experience of emotions" then the answer is maybe.

Totally.  It takes the heart and mind to make them rational.

I will listen any time.

That's exactly what I meant; I was referring to both possibilities.

:)

Agreed. Both working together like skilled Tango partners.

Most of what we call emotions are in fact habits. For instance, you had to learn when to be angry and how to act in each case. You can change by just learning new habits.

That's sweet!! Thank you! Pretty painting, too. 

Mmm. I agree with that. Anger especially, since it's always a secondary reaction to pain, shame or fear - a learned defense mechanism that usually creates more problems than it solves - and better skills in conflict resolution and communication can lead to breaking the habit.

What does the word irrational mean to you?

Would you be willing to share more about the ways in which emotions are irrational?

Yes emotions are totally irrational.

Emotions are usually tied to thoughts, it's like a reaction to whatever thoughts I'm having at the moment. I don't think they have any rationality to it.. Even my thoughts can be irrational.

I agree - I think they mostly are.

Although I think we also have emotions which are direct and instantaneous,

like aversion to pain,

desire for something we need like warmth or shelter which persists until satisfied,

or the pleasurable contentment after a good meal.

Loneliness is an emotion. It may be complicated by thoughts about people, it's also a more basic and intrinsic need for simple companionship.

I think emotions do have a special kind of reasoning behind them because they evolve from nature, from desire and aversion, with deeper instincts propelling them. They are nature's way of trying to prompt us to do the things which support the well-being of life. Like a compass or direction finder.

But often we don't know how to read the deeper needs they express, so we get mixed up and confused, and then the thoughts we have about our feelings start to turn into stories or views that feed the emotions and often create exaggerations or distortions. I think that's when they start to become irrational.

So that's where I agree with you most strongly... Maybe the worst of our confusions are related to ego. People often get emotional over thoughts relating to identity. An attack on a belief or some other personal attribute can provoke the thoughts that cause fear or hurt, just as if the body had been physically assaulted.

Or another aspect of irrational emotions is the psychodynamic model - the influence of the unconscious - when we over react to something in the present due to some past and often forgotten influence. This has a kind of rationale which becomes easy to see if the experiences are spontaneously remembered (not suggested.) It's not the reason of logic, but of the way mental conditioning works.

Does the word rational always mean logical?

Are there different forms of reasoning apart from logic?

Do you think emotions are difficult to understand?

You cannot control how you feel, you can control how you react to it. It isn't emotion that is irrational, it is the choice to act on emotion without forethought that is irrational.

:)

Wisdom speaks.

Emotions serve two main functions in human beings:

1) They motivate us to engage in basic survival behaviors.

2) They provide weighting to the outputs of our more complex cognitive functions which (usually) prevents "paralysis by analysis"

The neuroscientist Antonio DeMasio has done a fair amount of research with people who (because of specifc kinds of brain damage) lack emotional affect. He has generally found them to have poor real-world functional abilities. Emotions tell us two very important basic important pieces of information: what we want or do not want and, perhaps even more importantly, allow us to model what OTHER people do or do not want.

People without emotional affect lack motivation, get stuck in endless "rational" analyses of even the most trivial decisions, and have difficulty understanding how their behaviors might be regarded by other people.

In the senses above, emotions are far from irrational. Unfortunately, as our society has become more complex and abstratct, our emotions can be hijacked in ways that produce unfortunate outcomes (e.g. when the overwhelming majority of Americans supported the invasion/occupation of Iraq, believeing that Saddam Hussein was responsible for 9/11 because....HATE THE GODDAM F***ING HADJIS, not because there was any empirical evidence or logis supporting that belief).

If we could choose best answer here, I vote for yours. Perfect. Brilliant. ! :)

I hope all those who suffer a lot from their emotions read it,

because it contains all the necessary clues to a happier life. :)

I don't think there's any rationality or irrationality about emotions. They're just the way mind reacts to a certain situation at a certain point of time.

Take the example of a newly graduated school teacher who is being taunted and teased in class. She'll probably break down in the classroom itself if it goes beyond what she can handle, much to the pupil's mirth. Irrational emotion, perhaps?

Now give her three years, and she can show the brats who's in control. She's learnt the hard way how to react to similar situations, and even anticipate them year after year. She can still feel "emotional" in such situations, but she knows what to reveal and what to conceal. And what she reveals may not be what she actually feels. Rational emotion, if I may put it so.

We all have emotions.  Knowing how much of it we should express around others can be a challenge.  

It is possible to express too much or too little.  

Yep - well put as usual.:)

I guess you are, or were, a teacher too.

Agreed.

I take my cue from how others behave.

I am usually much more open and intimate with people who are easily able to express their feelings.

Same here.  I really do try and read people a little more before I share my emotions.