How mood affects reasoning

The ability to reason may not be the sole domain of human beings (Blaisdell, Sawa, Leising & Waldmann, 2006), but it is likely to be an ability that we use more than other animals. A key influence on reasoning behaviour is that of emotion. We all are familiar with phrases such as “seeing things through rose-coloured glasses” and being unable to think straight when the “red mist descends”. However, this link between emotion and reasoning has not always been accepted and only in the past half a century or so has this association been explored in detail. This association is known to occur in two ways – either through the emotion or mood people are in or through the material they reason about. This chapter focuses on how cognition and emotion have (eventually) been explored together, how people’s moods and emotions affect their reasoning abilities and some possible mechanisms that may underpin these phenomena.