Emotional Reasoning

Emotional reasoning is an irrational way of thinking characterized by putting too much focus on emotions and ignoring common sense. For instance, a person with this unrealistic thought pattern often believes that what he feels is always true or right. He dangerously bases all of his decisions on gut feel. He would then think that somebody is lying just because he feels that he is. Emotional reasoning is one of the most common types of cognitive distortions based on Aaron Beck’s cognitive theory. These different types were developed by David Burns, a student of Beck.