We have made the following argument. The experience of emotions facilitates action (Frijda, 1986; Lang, 1993; Saami et al., 1998). This process is fundamentally adaptive: emotional experience signals the presence of a need that the individual must meet. The more intense the need is, the more intensely felt is the emotion. If the experience of more intense emotions is likely to be associated with more pronounced needs, it is likely also associated with more unusual behavioral choices (such as may follow from intense fear or intense sexual attraction). Although this process is adaptive, there is evidence that extreme emotions, and efforts to regulate them, interfere with rational decision making and tax cognitive resources, thus increasing the likelihood of ill-considered behavior (Tice et al., 2001).
