I think this is right on. People use rational thought to evaluate decisions, but they use emotions to make decisions. If you take away a person's ability to feel emotions, they become paralyzed with indecision. There are at least a few real-world examples that have been studied.

There's a strong argument that our rational intelligence evolved to serve the drive to survive--and that emotions are the signals of that drive. It's becoming more clear that even though most animals aren't capable of symbolic reasoning and language, they do experience emotions and make decisions accordingly.

Who is programming a computer to feel emotions? I'm not aware of any significant work in the direction. (If anyone is, please link it!)