Joseph LeDoux, a leading neuroscientist, specialising in the area of human brain's emotional response, points out that, in fact, there are two different paths along which the signals (electrical signals if you will) travel inside our brain in response to a stimuli.
The normal path which, starts from one of the five senses to the thalamus, to neocortex(rational center), which then distributes the appropriate response to other parts of the brain including the amygdala. This circuit is behind our rational decisions.
In addition to the normal path there is another short circuit tripwire which, extends from eyes/ears to thalamus then directly to the amygdala. Amygdala being the emotional center, this tripwire causes an emotional response to an sensory stimulus, and since this path is shorter than the normal one. our emotions are meant to supercede our rationality.
To make things worse the response from these two paths may even contradict themselves.
We are indeed hardwired, by nature's choice, to remain confused for most of the time, and at all of those moments to be equally irrational.
