When we are gripped by an inappropriate emotion, we interpret what is happening in a way that fits with how we are feeling

and ignore our knowledge that doesn't fit. Emotions change how we see the world and how we interpret the actions of others. We do not seek to challenge why we are feeling a particular emotion; instead, we seek to confirm it. We evaluate what is happening in a way that is consistent with the emotion we are feeling, thus justifying and maintaining the emotion. In many situations this may help focus our attention and guide our decisions about how to respond to the problems at hand and understand what is at stake. But it can cause problems, for when we are gripped by an emotion we discount or ignore knowledge we already have that could disconfirm the emotion we are feeling, just as we ignore or discount new information coming to us from our environment that doesn't fit our emotion. In other words, the same mechanism that guides and focuses our attention can distort our ability to deal with both new information and knowledge already stored in our brain.* Suppose someone is furious about having been insulted in public. During his or her fury it will not be easy to consider whether what was said was actually meant as an insult. Past knowledge about that person and about the nature of insults will be only selectively available; only that part of the knowledge that supports the fury will be remembered, not that which would contradict it. If the insulting person explains or apologizes, the furious person may not immediately incorporate this information (the fact of an apology) in his behavior. For a while we are in a refractory state, during which time our thinking cannot incorporate information that does not fit, maintain, or justify the emotion we are feeling. This refractory state may be of more benefit than harm if it is brief, lasting for only a second or two. In that short window it focuses our attention on the problem at hand, using the most relevant knowledge that can guide our initial actions, as well as preparations for further actions. Difficulties can arise or inappropriate emotional behavior may occur when the refractory period lasts much longer, for minutes or perhaps even
*What I am suggesting here is very similar to psychologist Jerry Fodor's account of how information can become encapsulated, by which he meant that information that might not fit with a way of interpteting the world, information the person has stored and knows, becomes inaccessible for a time.