rationalskepticism.org

crank wrote:

Fallible wrote:Yes, if one wants to go with Aaron Beck and Albert Ellis on this, it goes activating event -> cognition -> emotion -> behaviour. The activating event elicits a chain reaction; the individual has a thought about the event, the though elicits a certain emotion and it is the emotion which drives the individual to act. If the thought is rational, no problemo. Problems can arise when the thought is the iceberg tip of a core belief, and is based not so much on factual evidence or reason and more on skewed ideas about the world, the self and the future picked up through biased evidence-gathering over time; evidence which corresponds with the core belief is absorbed, while evidence which does not is either passed over or distorted in order to fit. So yes, emotions have their place in driving us to action, and are helpful, providing the process isn't kicked off by a thought based on incorrect beliefs heavy on emotion and light on evidence.

I've heard a few who insist cognition gives rise to emotions, that they are prior, but that is daft. Or maybe I'm misunderstanding what they mean by 'cognition'? Emotions are primitive, much older evolution-wise, than conscious thought, How much cognition goes into screaming after you hit yourself with a hammer?

Does their cognition include recognizing/perceiving the triggering event? That would make sense looked at from that perspective, but I wouldn't call that a rational thought process, or even an irrational one. If I see some highly sexually attractive person, or something extremely disgusting, whatever, there just isn't any thought process going on, the mere perception triggers the feelings, the thought lags significantly. You say 'if you want to go with ...', what is it you think? What drives us to action? If not some kind of emotion, what then? You mentioned a thought kicks off an emotion that drives us to do something, can just the thought drive us to act without an emotion? It's irrelevant if the emotion is based on false beliefs or true ones, it's still an emotion driving the action.