Behaving emotionless in a universe where 99% of all sapient lifeforms are emotional is illogical when dealing with them. You don’t have to actually feel the emotions, but behaving in a way that puts them at ease makes cooperation much easier.
Going a bit more doylist here, when Vulcans are well written they project their own insecurities on other species and that scares them. They then do all kinds of rationalization to deal with their feelings. In one of the season 4 episodes of Enterprise there’s a small scene that covers this a bit.
Behaving emotionless in a universe where 99% of all sapient lifeforms are emotional is illogical when dealing with them. You don’t have to actually feel the emotions, but behaving in a way that puts them at ease makes cooperation much easier.
It’s mentioned a few times that Vulcans feel strong emotions but suppress them because they are afraid of losing control.
That’s a good point. However, is it fair of them to then look down on other species that don’t suppress their emotions?
Going a bit more doylist here, when Vulcans are well written they project their own insecurities on other species and that scares them. They then do all kinds of rationalization to deal with their feelings. In one of the season 4 episodes of Enterprise there’s a small scene that covers this a bit.