The Atlantic

A Rational Case for Following Your Emotions

Feelings aren’t as senseless as Americans have been led to believe.
Source: Sean Gladwell / Getty

In the popular American imagination, emotion and rationality are often mutually exclusive. One is erratic, unpredictable, and often a liability; the other, cool, collected, and absent obvious feeling. And even though research suggests that people experience emotions internally in similar ways no matter their , many Americans still regard emotion as and weak.

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