I would like to add to this - most people seem to be only capable of selfish-emotional thinking.They only look at things from their perspective(like or no like,how it makes me feel etc).Unselfish-unemotional-logical thinking is a rare thing these days.
Emotions are like the bassline that your thoughts will follow .When you feel happy then u got happy thoughts an so on.
Emotions are your inner worlds reaction to outside world .Soul,imagination,mind etc lets just simple it down and call it all your inner world .
The weaker the persons inner world is the more it is influenced/manipulated by outside world.
Their materialistic Ego/persona that likes to receive is stronger than their spiritual soul that gets joy from giving.Materialistic well being is more important than spiritual/mental one.
That's what you get when you strip people from religion/spirituality - easily manipulatable weaklings with no integrity.