The theory of evolution was created by Charles Darwin. The theory of emotion dominated his field for more than a century. The theory was wrong.
The mind consists of two competing forces, the rational and the emotional, according to his theory. He believed that emotions played a role in the lives of non-human animals, but that they were useless in humans.
We now know that emotions help us make decisions. We can't make decisions without being influenced by our emotions.
A 2010 study analysed the work of 118 professional traders in stocks, bonds, and derivatives at four investment banks. Many were not successful. The researchers wanted to understand what differentiated the two groups. Their conclusion? They had differing opinions about the role of emotion in their job.
The less successful traders did not think that emotion was a factor. They tried to suppress their emotions while denying that they had an effect on their decision-making.
The most successful traders had a different attitude. They were willing to reflect on their emotions. Good decision-making and emotion are related. Accepting that emotions were necessary for high performance, they began to reflect on the origin of their intuitions and the role of emotion.
The successful traders understood that when emotions become too intense it is useful to know how to tone them down. The issue for them was how to regulate and harness emotion. In the television series Billions, it was shown that hedge funds and financial firms use psychology coaches to meet traders on a one-on-one basis.
How does emotions aid rational reasoning? The most important discovery regarding the role of emotion is that even when you think you are exercising logically, you aren't. The framework of their thought process is highly influenced by what they are feeling at the time, sometimes subtly, sometimes not. According to the Caltech neuroscientist, each emotion is a functional state of the mind that puts your brain in a particular mode of operation that adjusts your goals, directs your attention, and modifies the weights you assign to various factors as you do mental calculations.
Think of an Apple device. The goal of the phone is to always be ready to serve you. The best way to accomplish that is for the iPhone to be constantly at work, listening for you to yell "Hey, Siri", checking to see if there are new emails to download, and updating your apps even if you are not currently using them. The priorities are changed in low-power mode. These actions are reduced or stopped altogether because of the importance of energy saving.
The human brain is like an iPad in that it constantly carries out computations. It evolved to calculate what actions would be the most likely to nurture your health, prevent premature death and increase the likelihood that you will successfully reproduce. Our brains have a number of specialized programs that are tailored to solve a problem. Some of the programs apply to practical issues such as mate choice, facial recognition, sleep management and energy allocation. Others deal with cognitive issues such as learning, memory, goal selection and so on.
A biological brain can run in various modes, each with its own characteristics. An emotion is a functional backdrop that organizes and coordinates many programs in a way that is specific to the situation you are in.
For example, consider anger. Anger creates incentives for others to appease the angry individual. The importance of your own welfare and goals is inflated by your mental calculus. The focus on self encourages athletes to push themselves to achieve their goals, which is why coaches use anger as a motivational tool. Anger makes you perceive less risk. Better judgments can be made in situations where risk-aversion is inappropriate.
One of the basic conclusions of Darwin's theory of evolution is that humans are not as different from non-human animals as people think. What can we learn from this? Self-awareness is the most important step. People with high levels of emotional intelligence fare better in their lives. Learning about our emotions can help us communicate better.
Understanding how emotions affect our thoughts and reasoning can help us. We can take steps to manage our feelings whenever they are of benefit once we are in touch with our true feelings.
Leonard Mlodinow is a physicist.
