Understanding the cause of negative emotions

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I'm doing yet another test. This one: Emotional Intelligence Test

And there's a question which I simply don't understand, which reflects a concept I keep coming across that I don't understand either. It's this:

"When I feel negative emotions starting to crop up, I stop and take a moment to ask myself what I am feeling, and why."

Does anyone else find this idea odd? I don't know if I'm emotionally cold or something, but I can't think that I ever just feel angry or sad for no known reason. I never have to stop and wonder why I'm feeling the way I do because the reason comes first and the feeling comes second.

For example, whilst colleagues of mine (without realising it) regularly get ratty if they haven't eaten for a while, I never do. Weird intangible triggers like that don't really happen to me. But I will get really ratty if someone wastes my time, which is an obvious cause and effect scenario.

Sometimes intrusive thoughts can make me angry, but again the reason for the emotion isn't the confusing part, even if the reason the thought intruded isn't clear.

Does anyone else relate to this? It seems the question in the test comes from an NT perspective and I know a lot of NT's who behave this way. I wondered if perhaps people with ASDs are a bit more logical with their emotional reactions or just more consciously causal? Although I'm aware that the opposite could be true given subtle sensory stressors etc.

I don't really have negative feelings cropping up without me knowing why they are cropping up. Usually, feelings don't crop up for me. Instead, they mushroom cloud, and there is usually an easily identifiable trigger like someone interrupts me when I am hyperfocusing. The rest of the time, I don't really have that many feelings. I am purrrty neutral most of the time. I have difficulty understanding the whole feeling framework that most people have, but I don't seem to have the same one that they do.

Yes, I think that's closer to how I am too. I don't think I mushroom cloud (though I know what you mean) because low self esteem pushes me towards rejection or depression rather than fury or aggression if someone deals me an injustice. I can get angry, but that tends to be over smaller things, usually to do with intelligence, logic or getting to the point. I have a good example, but it feels too convoluted to explain. The main thing is that the causes and boundaries are clear. I always feel my moods are justified and explainable and I won't inflict them on anyone who doesn't deserve it.

On the other hand, I hope I'm right about that. Sometimes I worry that I'm just like everyone else, but completely oblivious to my moods and inflicting them on everyone without the slightest clue of what I'm doing at all.

I have feelings and strong negative ones too.
This sounds like a robot to me. This sounds like the "ideal" human that will never fail. This sounds like a soldier that says: The more stress I have the better I work
This sounds like a totally awkward guy just being positive about himself and thus increadibly stupid.

Negative emotions can crop up, but rationallising them to the smallest detail just kills your soul

And feeling is not like functioning like a machine.

I just dont sometimes get it how one can be so naiive that there is only one way of being, just like everybody else

This posts topic doesnt have anything to do with this strange kind of approach. Be perfect, dont show any vulnerability, be stupid

There is so much crap around like Lion kings Hakuna matata.
Not that I dont like the idea in general,
just that there is so many people that just understand it like "Give a damn s**t and feel happy"
"Whatever I do I am not responsible for it" "No matter who I am, I am happy" Devil-may-care

Worries dont vanish just by rationalizing them and well if I am sad then I am.
that's normal. I dont need to immediately work against them.
There is a soul and a sub-conscience that will have to be recognized as well.

I think in general negative emotions are part of oneself just as positive ones.
You'll have to let them out, you'll have to use them to develop.
They are the natural feelings that express sadness
If you'll try to engineer them away then you are just a very strange human after that.

Let's all do that. Everybody will just be happy. Just a few stupid ones wont, the aspies...
partly maybe also because they are too stupid to understand that it can be so easy to ignore negative feelings.
"Cut them out, throw them to the bin.What are negative feelings, anyway? They are only for loosers"

Great.

I think their questions are NT-centric. I rarely meet NTs who pause mid-emotional distress to ask themselves such a question. They're too busy emoting.

I also think it's funny that I am predisposed to flunk emotional intelligence tests. When I've taken them, I've tried lying to get the response I thought NTs want, just like those personality tests they give you for employment.

Even then, I couldn't pass them! hahahaha!

I have scientifically validated that this picture is to fool potential test takers

BTW is this kind of linking of pictures ok? I mean making links without permission that use pictures from somebody else on this web site?