There are two prominent types of thinking — emotional and logical. While these two are essential to different circumstances, they should be used in correspondence to specific situations. However, that is not the case used with most people today. Psychology Today says that most people tend to base their decisions on emotional thinking, even if they believe that they are using logic, simply because they don’t know the difference.
Logical thinking is the idea that in order to make any sort of decision, you need to go through different analyses to finally decide on a sensible solution for all possible outcomes. According to Great Learning, “Logical thinking uses reasoning skills to objectively study any problem, which helps make a rational conclusion about how to proceed.”
On the other hand, emotional thinking means taking your emotions into consideration when making decisions, and not being able to distinguish them from the actual problem. According to Kaaj, “Emotional thinking refers to a generalized inability to distinguish emotions and thoughts. For some, strong emotions tend to interfere with balanced and realistic thought processes and can result in distorted views of situations and relationships.”
Although there is a lot of debate on which one is better, logic has proven to be more effective when it comes to rational decision-making. With logical thinking, you have the ability to make much more rational decisions and consider a lot more factors. This will benefit you in the long run because you will be able to make decisions that work for you for a longer period of time. Almost all choices in life play a domino effect, so if you make a good decision from the beginning, the more likely the rest of your decisions will be good following that.
If you choose to only use emotion, you can face a lot more trouble with your decisions in the long run. “When you’re emotionally charged in a situation, it’s difficult to see what is real and true. You may be blinded by subjectivity,” said Marie Miguel from the University of Chicago. She also stated, “That’s why it’s crucial to look at facts. Observe what’s going on rather than how you feel about it. When you observe the facts, you can feel confident because there is tangible evidence.” Another reason as to why emotional thinking is not better in comparison to logical thinking is because of mental health. Since mental health plays such a huge role in what humans do and how humans react, if someone’s mental health isn’t in the right state and they make an emotional decision that goes wrong, it can make their mental health worse. This can result in a domino effect of bad decisions piling up.
With logical thinking, you will have much more reasonable and accurate circumstance decisions. Miguel also said, “In wise mind, reasonable mind and emotion overlap. You can balance your logical perceptions of a situation with the mind and emotion[al] mind existing together. When you do that, you can view matters more accurately, and your emotions don’t rule you. Wise mind allows you to feel a sense of peace.” So next time you have a huge decision to make, take your time to really think out all your options because logical thinking is beneficial.
