During a high school games week, I decided to enter a marathon in hopes of winning. The race was tough, but I managed to maintain my pace and get into the top four leading the race. As I approached the finish line, the person running next to me tripped and fell. I continued running, turned around briefly and saw her lying on the ground. However, my feet did not stop and I continued running for fear of losing the race. I came out third. The fear of losing allowed me to instantly make a decision that overrode my moral judgment, a choice that still haunts me. This emotion hindered my thought process. At that moment, my thinking should not have been about winning, but rather about the well-being of my fellow marathon runners. Therefore, what could I have done to make this emotional influence more positive and helpful? Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay First of all, I should have taken more time to think about the decision of whether I should fear losing or fear moral failure. Another method of minimizing the emotional response is the "two-state solution" where I should have made an effort to counteract the fear I felt with compassion or empathy for the other runner. The implication of this change in emotions would have been to stop running and choose to help him. The strategies mentioned both require effort that may fail for busy decision makers (Lerner et al, 2014). Thus, a better approach might have been that of “choice architecture,” which refers to modifying and reframing the thought process to naturally affect behavior without resorting to volatile emotions to make choices. In this scenario, that means I'm rewiring my mind to prioritize helping someone else – to be selfless. Conclusion Emotions can hinder the thought process and lead to negative thoughts; however, upon awareness of a change in emotional state, deliberations may be made in an effort to transfer or counteract the feeling. Additionally, changing one's mindset to influence naturally desired behavior can override emotional decision-making..