Well, now this is an interesting reply. :-)

Although you sounds a bit too "deterministic".

I agree we are all influenced by our emotions, and that thoughts and emotions are deeply connected. Yet not all the time.

- Sometimes we just "feel" and there's no thoughts (or no conscious ones). Like when we lose ourselves in the dance, or when we are "in the flow".

- Sometimes I think because I like to play with thoughts, not because they are created by emotions.

Never think the brain is binary: all or nothing, black OR white. ;-)

***

Regarding genders, in my experience it's more common for females to be "at the mercy of their emotions", and to "to lash out in irrational ways" (males can do that as well, but it looks less common).

And I'm not the only one: it's a common complaint among men. "Women are crazy!" they say, bewildered. OTOH, women seldom say "Men are so emotional!" or "He's so irrational". What they do say is more like "I don't understand men" - because men behave differently than women, and those women aren't aware of those differences and expect men to be more like them.

And yet your own experience seems the opposite. Mmh. I wonder if that's because of the people you mingle with... or maybe there's some kind of "attention bias" underneath.