Affect and Cognition

Author(s): Joseph P. Forgas

Source: Perspectives on Psychological Science , Mar., 2008, Vol. 3, No. 2, From
Philosophical Thinking to Psychological Empiricism, Part II (Mar., 2008), pp. 94-101
Published by: Sage Publications, Inc. on behalf of Association for Psychological Science

Stable URL: http://www.jstor.com/stable/40212235

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 PERSPECTIVES ON PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE

Affect and Cognition

Joseph P. Forgas

University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

quences ofnature
ABSTRACT - One of the greatest puzzles of human affect. This article reviews what we now know about
concerns the poorly understood interplay the
between affect
links between affect and cognition and discusses the history
and prospects
and cognition - the rational and emotional ways for research on the cognitive antecedents and
of dealing
with the social world around us. Affect is a consequences
ubiquitous of affective states.
and
powerful phenomenon in our lives, yet research on human
affectivity has been neglected until quite recently.
HISTORICAL This
AND THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
article reviews traditional and contemporary approaches
to this issue, and recent theoretical and empirical
In the 18th work
century, philosophers divided psychology's subject
exploring the links between affect and cognition
matter intoisthree
con- distinct faculties: cognition, affect, and cona-
sidered. The major achievements and shortcomings of this
tion. Of these, affect arguably remains the last explored and least
now-thriving research area are discussed, understood
and the future
(Hilgard, 1980). Yet in early introspectionist ex-
prospects of psychological research on human affectivity
periments by Wundt, Titchener, and others, affective, cognitive,
are considered.
and conative responses were still considered as inseparable,
complementary aspects of human experience. Unfortunately, in
subsequent psychological research, these three faculties came
Since the dawn of civilization, understanding the delicate re-
to be seen as sovereign, unrelated domains that have been
lationship between affect and cognition has been a recurrent
studied in isolation and without reference to each other, leading
puzzle that has occupied artists, writers, and philosophers.
to a neglect of affective processes (Hilgard, 1980).
Classic thinkers such as Aristotle, Socrates, Plato, Epicurus,
Descartes, Pascal, and Kant devoted considerable attention to
exploring the relationship between feeling and thinking in hu-
Affect: Destructive or Adaptive?
man affairs. In contemporary societies, attempts to promote
Another reason for the neglect of affect in psychology may be a
positive affect and well-being and reduce negative affectivity
long-dominant view in Western thought, held since Plato's time,
and depression are emerging as important policy objectives
that affect is a dangerous, invasive force that subverts rational
(Ciarrochi, Forgas, & Mayer, 2006; Diener, 2000). In a sense,
thinking, an idea that has recurred in many theories throughout
exploring the links between affect and cognition lies at the heart
the ages, including those from Freud, Tarde, and LeBon. The
of the age-old quest to understand the fundamental relationship
psychodynamic model in particular suggested that controlling
between the rational and the emotional aspects of human nature
affect requires countervailing psychological resources, which
(Hilgard, 1980).
may often fail or lead to dysfunctional consequences. Indeed,
Within psychology, the modern area of affect-cognition re-
some writers even argued that human beings' inability to un-
search began some 30 years ago, after long periods of neglect.
derstand and control affect reflects an evolutionary "fatal flaw"
Yet progress has been fragile and has been achieved against
in the brain that may ultimately threaten the very survival of our
considerable odds. Even the definition of what is meant by affect
species (Koestler, 1978). Fortunately, advances in social cog-
and emotion remains problematic, and the relationship between
nition, neuroanatomy, and psychophysiology during the last
affect and cognition continues to generate intense debate (For-
several decades led to the recognition that affect is often a useful
gas, 2006). Whereas some psychologists focus on the cognitive
and even essential component of cognition and behavior
antecedents of affect, exploring the cognitive appraisal strate-
(Damasio, 1994). Pascal's prescient claim from over 350 years
gies preceding emotional responses (e.g., Smith & Kirby,ago
2000),
that "the heart has its reasons which reason does not un-
a complementary paradigm explores the cognitive derstand"
conse- (Pascal, 1643/1966, p. 113) is now receiving empir-
ical support showing that affect is an adaptive and essential
adjunct to cognition (Damasio, 1994; Isen, 1987; Zajonc, 1980).
Address correspondence to Joseph P. Forgas, School of Psychology,
University of New South Wales, Sydney 2052, Australia;Such a view is also supported by recent evolutionary
e-mail:
jp.forgas@unsw.edu.au. approaches suggesting that, as a result of natural and sexual

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 Joseph P. Forgas

selection since ancestral times, affective reactions (such as regulation and conscious affective experience. The ventral
jealousy) constitute specific mental modules that evolved to deal prefrontal cortex plays a role in linking cognitive representations
with particular adaptive problems (Buss, 2005). One broad with their hedonistic value and with the appraisals involved in
evolutionary model views emotions as superordinate cognitive generating self-conscious emotions, such as embarrassment and
programs (Cosmides & Tooby, 2000) that help us to activate and shame. The ventral section of the medial prefrontal cortex ap-
select the subset of cognitive strategies best suited to deal with a pears to be important for the incorporation of somatic feedback
particular adaptive problem. For example, positive and negative into judgments and decisions (Damasio, 1994). Patients with
affective states may selectively recruit assimilative and ac- lesions in this area perform poorly on measures of emotional
commodative cognitive strategies respectively, recently shown intelligence and social functioning. In summary, neural struc-
as most likely to yield adaptive outcomes in social cognitive tures implicated in emotion processing also participate in social
tasks (Bless & Fiedler, 2006; Forgas, 2007). Another cognitive information processing, and structures involved in social cog-
function of emotions (such as love and guilt) may be that they nition are also involved in emotional processing. It may well be
operate as commitment devices, helping us to sustain long-term adaptive evolutionary pressures to deal flexibly with significant
adaptive strategies against superficially attractive short-term social stimuli that resulted in the linking of structure and
rewards (Frank, 1988). function in the social and emotional brain areas.

AFFECT AND COGNITION IN PSYCHOLOGY:

The Neuroscience Approach TRADITIONAL APPROACHES
Recent research in neuroscience also confirms that social cog-
nitive and affective processes share overlapping neural struc- Within psychology, early approaches to affect and cognition
tures, which have probably coevolved to deal with stimuli of high were shaped by theories such as psychoanalysis and behavior-
significance (Damasio, 1994). Neural structures associated in ism. Psychoanalytic accounts saw affect as located within the id,
emotion processing, such as the amygdala and medial prefrontal exerting pressure against the countervailing forces of rational
cortex, also participate in social information processing. Con- ego mechanisms. These ideas hugely influenced popular
versely, neural structures involved in social cognition, such as thinking but had only limited influence on psychological re-
the orbitofrontal and medial prefrontal cortex, fusiform gyrus, search. In one exception, Feshbach and Singer (1957) found that
and inferior frontal gyrus, are also involved in emotional pro- attempts to suppress fear paradoxically increased the pressure
cessing. These findings are consistent with evolutionary prin- to "perceive another person as fearful and anxious" (p. 286),
ciples suggesting that the pressures for dealing with significant suggesting that "suppression of fear facilitates the tendency to
stimuli led to the comingling of structure and function in the project fear onto another social object" (p. 286). However, due to
social and emotional brain areas. Thus, emotion regions tend to lack of empirical support and the devastating epistemological
be involved in the processing of social stimuli, and the social- criticisms by philosophers like Karl Popper, psychoanalytic
cognitive regions are also involved in the processing of emo- theories declined in importance.
tional stimuli. The adaptive advantage of responding flexibly to Radical behaviorism suggested that affect influences thoughts
social stimuli may have been enhanced by co-opting affective and judgments through conditioned blind associations between
neural systems that originally evolved to deal with hedonic affect and other stimuli. The full repertoire of human emotions
events. The hierarchical and modular organization of the brain can thus be explained in terms of cumulative conditioning ex-
also allows for the possibility of unconscious affect: affective periences superimposed on just a few fundamental wired-
influences on behavior without any conscious feelings. This, in emotions (Watson & Rayner, 1920). Although behaviorist
however, presents problems for inferential models that assign a orthodoxy is now widely rejected, Watson's idea that affect may
critical role to conscious feelings (such as the affect-as-infor- influence thoughts and judgments through incidental associa-
mation model). tions survived in subsequent research. Clore and Byrne (1974)
Much is now known about the functions of areas such as the showed that aversive or pleasant environments (the uncondi-
amygdala, which is the key structure of the "emotional brain," tioned stimuli) can produce an affective reaction (the uncondi-
involved in preconscious affective responses to sensory stimuli, tioned response) to a person encountered in that environment.
the affective modulation of attention and memory, and affect These studies explained affect congruence in thinking in terms

regulation. The amygdala is also involved in social cognition, as of conditioning principles based on temporal and spatial
patients with amygdala damage are also less able to form social contiguity.
inferences and evaluate the internal states, beliefs, and desires The emerging cognitive information processing paradigm in
of others. Within the cortex, two areas - the somatosensory co- the 1960s initially also focused on cold, affect-less thinking,
rtices (responsible for body sensations and proprioception) and and it saw affect mostly as a source of disruption and noise. It
the prefrontal cortex - are most directly implicated in affectivity is interesting that even phenomenological theorists such as
(Damasio, 1994). The prefrontal cortex is important in affect Heider (1958) largely ignored affect and focused on cold logical

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 Affect and Cognition

inferences. In the early 1980s, research on naturalistic cogni- eliciting situation, its causal antecedents, and the person's
tion established that affect plays a critical role in how people ability to cope. Different combinations of these features reliably
deal with social information (Neisser, 1982). Within social produce different emotions. Acceptance or rejection by others
psychology, Isen (1987) and Zajonc (1980) argued for the im- appears to be a particularly potent cause of affective reactions
portance of affective influences on social thinking and behavior. (Leary, 2000), which is consistent with the probable evolution-
Ultimately, Gordon Bower's associative network model gave a ary origins of many affective reactions.
major impetus to experimental affect-cognition research, A special case of emotional appraisals is when people assess
demonstrating a strong mood-congruent influence on social their expected future affective reactions to anticipated out-
memory (Bower, 1981). comes. Such future forecasting motivates many human en-
Affect was also found to play a major role in the way mental deavors in everyday life, yet there is now good evidence that
representations about social experiences are constructed (For- people make many systematic mistakes when they forecast their
gas, 1982). As Pervin (1976) noted, "what is striking is the ex- future affective reactions (Wilson & Gilbert, 2003). Exploration
tent to which situations are described in terms of affects . . . and of the cognitive processes that underlie such affective fore-
organized in terms of similarity of affects aroused by them" casting errors is an exciting new research domain that is not yet
(p. 471). More recently, Niedenthal and Halberstadt (2000) adequately linked to research on contemporaneous emotion
found that "stimuli can cohere as a category even when they appraisals.
have nothing in common other than the emotional responses they More recent process models of emotion appraisal explore how
elicit" (p. 381). Thus, affect plays a key role in determining how situational information and memory-based information are
mental representations about the social world are created and combined to produce an emotional reaction through fast auto-
maintained in memory. Conversely, cognitive processes are matic and subconscious mechanisms such as priming and
also involved in the generation of affective responses, as we shall spreading activation (Smith & Kirby, 2000). However, such
see in the next section. spontaneous appraisals may subsequently be modified by rea-
soning that provides a more finely tuned emotional response,
THE COGNITIVE ANTECEDANTS OF AFFECT: THE allowing the emotion system to "learn" new interpretations.
APPRAISAL APPROACH Appraisal theory represents a promising framework for under-
standing the cognitive antecedents of affective experiences.
How do people know the right emotional reaction to A complementary approach focuses on the cognitive conse-
a situation?
What are the cognitive mechanisms implicated inquences
emotionof affective states; we shall now turn to this issue.
production? Appraisal theories seek to explain the cognitive
THEthe
genesis of emotions such as anger, sadness, and fear and COGNITIVE CONSEQUENCES OF AFFECT
functions they serve (Lazarus, 1991). The pioneering two-factor
theory of emotions by Schachter and Singer (1962)The idea
was that affect influences cognition has been around for a
highly
long time.the
influential in suggesting that cognitive labels influence How and why does this "affect infusion" occur, and
what
quality of affective experiences. Emotional appraisal are the psychological mechanisms that produce it? Unlike
combines
situational and personal information to predict what the conditioning
earlier stim- and psychoanalytic explanations, contem-
ulus means to the individual. Different individuals react to
porary cognitive theories postulate precise mechanisms re-
similar situations with different emotions, and different situa-
sponsible for the infusion of affect into thinking and judgments.
tions can elicit the same emotions in individuals Affect congruence posits that affect can influence the content of
appraising
cognition through two complementary mechanisms: inferential
them (e.g., Forgas, 1982; Pervin, 1976). Emotion appraisals
processes
have deep adaptive significance, as different emotions and memory processes. In addition, affect can also
represent
influence
different "modes of action readiness" (Frijda, 1986) how the information is processed. We shall briefly
in a given
situation. consider these approaches in the following section.
Past affective states are also interpreted through appraisal-
like processes, and pioneering research by Redelmeier and
Theories of Affect Congruence
Kahneman (1996) suggests that features such as the peak in-
tensity and the last 3min of pain during a painful
Themedical
Inferential Account
procedure have a disproportionate influence on the way this
According to this model, affect congruence in judgments is
affective experience is appraised and remembered later
caused on.
by an inferential error. Individuals may ask themselves,
The structure of emotion appraisals or "emotion rules"
"How often
do I feel about it?", and in so doing, they may mistake
takes the logical form of if-then statements and can be sys-
preexisting feelings as a reaction to the target (Schwarz, 1990).
tematized to produce entire dictionaries of emotionalThis
responses
kind of misattribution implies superficial or heuristic
to situations (Lazarus, 1991). Structural appraisal models typi-
processing and is most common when people have little interest
cally emphasize the importance and personal relevance of the
or time for more elaborate processing. For example, off-the-cuff

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 Joseph P. Forgas

responses to an unexpected telephone survey may show such top-down, deductive thinking. Most cognitive tasks involve a
misattribution effects (Schwarz, 1990). It is not clear whether the combination of both these processing strategies in different
"How do I feel about it?" heuristic operates as a conscious, proportions. This model is consistent with evolutionary theories
inferential process or as an implicit, automatic mechanism. The that highlight the adaptive significance of positive and negative
model also does not specify how cues other than misattributed affect triggering different processing styles (Frijda, 1986).
affect, such as the actual stimulus information, can enter into Current evidence supports the view that positive affect promotes
producing a response. When the real source of affect is irrele- a more assimilative, schema-based processing style, whereas
vant to the task, as is the case in most experiments based on this negative affect calls for a more accommodative, externally fo-
model, this seems more like a theory of misjudgment or aborted cused thinking strategy (Bless & Fiedler, 2006; Fiedler, 2001;
judgment rather than a comprehensive theory of how affect in- Forgas, 2006). In addition, beyond such general valence effects,
fluences cognition and judgments. When affect is integral to the specific emotions can also trigger particular cognitive and
task, the inferential model suggests a direct, automatic process judgmental strategies, a recent and highly promising area of
of affect congruence that is reminiscent of earlier classical research (Lerner & Keltner, 2000).
conditioning accounts (Clore & Byrne, 1974). More recent re-
formulations of the theory suggest that affect can also function
as a heuristic cue influencing information processing strategies
Integrative Theories: The AIM
(Clore & Storbeck, 2006). Affect may thus influence both the content, and the process of
how people think. However, these effects are subject to impor-
The Memory Mechanism: The Affect Priming Principle tant boundary conditions. The AIM predicts that affective in-
The alternative affect priming model (Bower, 1981) posits that fluences on cognition depend on the processing styles recruited
affect is an integral part of peoples' cognitive representations in different situations, which differ in terms of two features: the
about the world. Affect may thus automatically prime associated degree of effort and the degree of openness of the information
ideas and memories, facilitating their use in constructive cog- search strategy. By combining processing quantity (effort), and
nitive tasks that use memory-based information. Numerous ex- quality (openness, constructiveness), the model identifies four
periments found that affect priming is most likely when people distinct processing styles: direct access processing (low effort,
face complex and demanding cognitive tasks that call for con- closed, not constructive), motivated processing (high effort, closed,
structive thinking and the extensive use of affectively primed not constructive), heuristic processing (low effort, open, construc-
information in memory (Eich & Macauley, 2006). Integrative tive), and substantive processing (high effort, open, construc-
theories such as the affect infusion model (AIM; Forgas, 1995, tive). Affect infusion is most likely when constructive
2002) seek to link the inferential and memory-based accounts as processing, such as substantive or heuristic processing, is used.
complementary rather than competing mechanisms and specify In contrast, affect should not infuse thinking when motivated or
the processing conditions likely to promote their use. The theory direct access processing is used. The AIM also specifies a range
predicts that the extent of affective influences on social thinking of contextual variables related to the task, the person, and the
should critically depend on the kind of information processing situation that influences processing choices and thus affective
strategies recruited by a given task and context. influences. The AIM is most relevant to explaining the cir-
cumstances when affect congruence is likely or unlikely to occur
and the kind of mechanisms (inferential vs. memory processes)
Affective Influences on Information Processing likely to produce affect congruence. Thus, the AIM seeks to
Affect itself may also directly influence the process of cogni- integrate the inferential and memory-based accounts of affect
tion - that is, how people think (Bless & Fiedler, 2006; Fiedler, congruence and suggests empirical means (such as the mea-
2001; Isen, 1987). It was originally thought that positive affect surement of processing latencies) allowing the determination of
reduces processing effort and that negative affect increases it, as which mechanisms is likely to be used. The AIM further predicts
people in a good mood try to maintain it, and those in a negative that affective states also have a direct influence on information-
mood try to improve how they feel (Clark & Isen, 1982). How- processing strategies. The nature of these mechanisms has been
ever, recent evidence showed that the processing consequences most clearly elucidated in the work of Bless and Fiedler (2006).
of affect can best be understood in terms of a fundamental di- The implications of this model have now been tested in a number
chotomy between accommodation and assimilation (Bless & of experiments, as we shall in the following section.
Fiedler, 2006), a distinction also used by Piaget.
Accommodation involves focusing on the demands of the
external world, paying careful attention to external stimulus THE EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE

information and using more inductive, bottom-up thinking.

Assimilation is a complementary process in which existing There are several theoretical accounts that link affect to
knowledge structures guide processing, thus producing more how people represent the social world and the memories and

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 Affect and Cognition

constructs they use to interpret complex information. In keeping Affect and Stereotyping
with the affect priming model, results from numerous studies Affect also plays an important role in stereotyping and inter-
determined that memory is enhanced when retrieval mood group judgments. Psychodynamic ideas and the frustration-
matches the original encoding mood (Eich & Macauley, 2006). aggression hypothesis suggest that negative affect might contribute
Thus, people in a positive mood recall more happy events from to intergroup discrimination and prejudice. Conditioning mod-
their childhood, and those in a bad mood remember more neg- els also suggest that regularly associating certain groups with
ative episodes. People also recall more mood-consistent rather aversive situations can elicit anger and resentment, just as
than mood-inconsistent events they recorded in their diary the evaluative reactions to individuals can be influenced by affec-
previous week (Bower, 1981). Due to the activation of mood- tive conditioning (Clore & Byrne, 1974). In turn, contact with
primed associations, affect congruent information also receives outgroup members while feeling good may reduce negative at-
greater attention and deeper processing (Bower, 1981). titudes and improve intergroup relations, according to the con-
tact hypothesis (Allport, 1954). Positive affect may also promote
more inclusive cognitive categorizations, thus reducing inter-
group distinctions (Forgas & Fiedler, 1996). Different negative
More Extensive Processing Magnifies Affect Infusion
affective states have different effects on intergroup judgments.
One key counterintuitive prediction derived from the AIM is
For example, sadness reduces reliance on stereotypes, but anger
that, paradoxically, affect congruence should be greater when
and anxiety may increase it (Bodenhausen & Macrae, 1998).
longer and more constructive processing is required to deal with
The process of stereotyping itself involves a variety of distinct
more complex cognitive tasks. This prediction was confirmed in
cognitive operations such as the identification of the relevant
a number of experiments where the complexity of the task was
category, activation of its contents, applying stereotyped fea-
manipulated to create more or less demand for constructive
tures to the target, and correcting for inappropriate stereotyping.
thinking (Forgas, 2002). For example, happy or sad judges were
Affect may influence stereotyping differently at each of the four
asked to form impressions of (a) well-matched or poorly matched
stages of the stereotyping process. Ultimately, a motivated ten-
couples, (b) typical or atypical people, and (c) serious or minor
dency to correct judgments also influences stereotyping. Thus,
relationship conflicts. Judgments in all cases showed significant
negative affect sometimes functions as a warning, indicating the
mood congruence as happy participants formed more positive
need for a motivated reassessment of potentially undesirable
impressions. However, mood had a significantly greater effect
responses.
when the task was more demanding (judging badly matched or
atypical targets). Processing latency and memory data confirmed
The Cognitive Benefits of Negative Affect: When Is Sad Better
that, paradoxically, longer and more elaborate thinking indeed
Than Happy?
magnified affect infusion, providing clear evidence for the
Affect can also influence the kind of information processing
process sensitivity of affect infusion into cognition.
strategies people adopt. Negative affect can reduce or eliminate
such common judgmental mistakes as the fundamental attri-
bution error (Forgas, 1998) by triggering more accommodative
Affect and Front-End Cognition: The Interpretation of and externally oriented thinking (Bless & Fiedler, 2006).
Observed Behaviors Affective influences on processing strategies also influence
Affect may also influence the way observed behaviors are
eyewitness accuracy (Forgas, Vargas, & Laham, 2005). Partic-
spontaneously perceived and encoded. This hypothesis was
ipants in a negative mood had better eyewitness memory for
tested (Forgas, Bower, & Krantz, 1984) by asking happy orcomplex
sad events that they had observed because they were less
participants to rate both their own and their partner's observed
likely to incorporate misleading information into their eyewit-
interactive behaviors as seen on a videotape. As predicted,
ness accounts (Forgas et al., 2005). These results - together
with the evidence for mood effects on inferential mistakes such
happy people saw significantly more positive, skilled behaviors
and fewer negative, unskilled behaviors both in themselves
as the fundamental attribution error - confirm that negative af-
and in their partners than did the sad subjects. These effects
fect can produce adaptive cognitive benefits in information
confirm that affect priming can subtly influence the kinds of
processing, reducing judgmental errors, and improving eyewit-
associations and interpretations people use when encoding
ness memory.
complex observed behaviors. Thus, a smile or gesture that may
Negative affect may also benefit certain interpersonal be-
seem friendly when one is in a good mood may be perceived
haviors according to several recent studies. As negative affect
as awkward when in a negative mood. Similar affective biases
produces more accommodative thinking (Bless & Fiedler,
also influence the way people think about themselves, and
2006), it may also improve the quality of interpersonal persua-
these effects are particularly strong when individuals deal
sive messages. This was confirmed in a series of experiments
with peripheral, poorly rehearsed aspects of themselves
(Forgas, in press) in which participants in a negative mood
(Sedikides, 1995). produced significantly more concrete, and ultimately more

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 Joseph P. Forgas

effective, persuasive arguments in support of topical issues (e.g., (Haidt, 2002), another rapidly developing area of inquiry on the
student fees). This result is consistent with the finding that interface of affect and cognition.
negative mood promotes a processing style that is more attuned There can thus be little doubt that empirical research and
to the requirements of a particular situation and thus improves theory building linking affect and cognition will continue apace
the quality and effectiveness of cognitive performance. in the future. In particular, evolutionary ideas and neuroscience
research are likely to become important sources of theoretical
Other Behavioral Consequences progress, focusing on the adaptive significance of affective
As many complex behaviors are the product of elaborate cog- phenomena and highlighting the manifold links between cog-
nitive processes, we may expect that affective influences on nitive research and the neurosciences (Buss, 2005). It is not too
cognition should also impact on real-life behaviors. This is in- far-fetched to suggest that in early evolutionary history, wired-in

deed what research has shown. For example, consistent with the emotional reactions provided distinct survival advantages
AIM, happy people are more confident, form higher expecta- (Frijda, 1986), just as our existing emotion appraisal strategies
tions, and behave in a more optimistic and cooperative manner clearly serve adaptive ends (Lazarus, 1991; Smith & Kirby,
in a negotiation than do people in a negative mood. Other ex- 2000). Much recent research suggests the beneficial conse-
periments found that positive mood also impacts on real-life quences of positive affect in promoting creativity, flexibility,
interpersonal strategies, such as the way people interact with cooperation, integrative thinking, successful negotiation, and a
others, formulate interpersonal requests, or respond to real-life host of other desirable outcomes (Isen, 1987). However, we
situations (Forgas, 2002). Affective influences on self-disclo- have also seen that in the right circumstances, negative affec-
sure were also demonstrated in several experiments, showing tive states such as sadness may also confer significant adaptive

that happy people preferred more intimate disclosure topics, advantages by promoting a more attentive, accommodating
consistent with their more confident and optimistic assessment thinking style that produces superior outcomes.

of the encounter. Finally, positive affect also functions as a It seems intriguing that despite our apparently never-ending

motivational resource, allowing people to cope with necessary quest for happiness, the human emotional repertoire remains
but aversive situations (Trope, Ferguson, & Raghunanthan, heavily skewed toward negative emotions. Four of the six deeply

2001). ingrained basic emotions with distinct physiological substrates

are negative ones - fear, anger, disgust, and sadness - sug-
CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE PROSPECTS gesting that these emotions were adaptive in the precarious
ancestral environment by preparing the organism for flight, fight,
or avoidance
This article reviewed historical and contemporary evidence for in the face of challenges. It is interesting that even
though
the close interdependence of affect and cognition. We consid- sadness is clearly unpleasant and provides no hedonic
benefit, it remains one of the most enduring and ubiquitous
ered several theories that seek to explain both the cognitive
affective states (Ciarrochi et al., 2006). The possible adaptive
antecedents and consequences of affect in a variety of social
functions and cognitive benefits of sadness are suggested in
situations. The empirical evidence reviewed shows that there
are close neural links and a complex, multifaceted, and several
bidi- recent experiments reviewed above, indicating that
negative mood can reduce judgmental errors, improve eyewit-
rectional relationship between affect and cognition. Cognitive
ness memory, and produce more effective persuasive arguments.
processes determine emotional reactions, and, in turn, affective
Such findings are broadly consistent with the notion that over
states influence how people remember, perceive, and interpret
social situations and execute interpersonal behaviors. Manyevolutionary
of time, affective states functioned as automatic
triggers
these effects are highly context sensitive and depend on the kind to elicit cognitive and behavioral responses that are
appropriate in a given situation.
of information processing strategies adopted. Integrative theo-
It is noteworthy that most investigations of the cognitive and
ries like the AIM (Forgas, 2002) offer a process-based expla-
nation of when, how, and why such affect infusion occurs.behavioral consequences of affect looked at mild, undifferen-
Given the relative neglect of affective phenomena in tiated
psy- mood states, whereas research on the antecedents of
chology until the 1980s (Hilgard, 1980), much has been covers a wide variety of specific emotional states be-
emotion
achieved in the past three decades. However, significant yond
prob- positivity and negativity. We believe that an important
direction
lems remain. We still lack a satisfactory definition of affective for future research is to better integrate research on the
elicitation of emotion with the study of the cognitive and be-
phenomena, and the various research domains linking affect and
havioral consequences of affect. For example, several intriguing
cognition remain poorly integrated. Yet, a better understanding
experiments
of the interface of affect and cognition is of vital importance in a now suggest that emotions also have reliable
cognitive consequences for social judgments and decisions
variety of applied fields, such as public policy and organiza-
(Keltner,
tional and health psychology (Diener, 2000; Forgas & George, Ellsworth, & Edwards, 1993).
In
2001; Salovey, Detweiler, Steward, & Bedell, 2001). Affect is conclusion, there is emerging evidence that the closely
interactive relationship between affective states and information
also heavily implicated in many moral judgments and decisions

99
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 Affect and Cognition

processing strategies may be the key to understanding affective Eich, E., & Macauley, D. (2006). Cognitive and clinical perspectives
influences on thinking, judgments, and interpersonal behavior. on mood-dependent memory. In J.P. Forgas (Ed.), Affect in social

Cognitive processes are intimately involved in the generation of thinking and behavior (pp. 105-123). New York: Psychology
Press.
affective responses (Smith & Kirby, 2000), and affect in turn has
Feshbach, S., & Singer, R.D. (1957). The effects of fear arousal and
a subtle but reliable impact on social thinking and behavior
suppression of fear upon social perception. Journal of Abnormal
(Forgas, 2002). A number of contextual influences mediate and and Social Psychology, 55, 283-288.
moderate these effects. Considering that most of the empirical Fiedler, K. (2001). Affective influences on social information pro-
research on affect in psychology occurred in the last quarter of a cessing. In J.P. Forgas (Ed.), The handbook of affect and social
century, a great deal has been achieved. However, we are still far cognition (pp. 163-185). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Forgas, J.P. (1982). Episode cognition: internal representations of in-
from fully understanding the multifaceted influence that affect
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mental social psychology (pp. 59-104). New York: Academic
stimulate further interest in this fascinating and rapidly devel- Press.
oping area of inquiry. Forgas, J.P. (1995). Mood and judgment: The affect infusion model
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Acknowledgments - This work was supported by a Special damental attribution error. Journal of Personality and Social
Investigator Award and a Professorial Fellowship from the Psychology, 75, 318-331.
Australian Research Council and by the Research Prize by the Forgas, J.P. (2002). Feeling and doing: affective influences on inter-
personal behavior. Psychological Inquiry, 13, 1-28.
Alexander von Humboldt Foundation to Joseph P. Forgas. For
Forgas, J.P. (Ed.). (2006). Affect in social thinking and behavior. New
further information on this research project, see www.psy.unsw.
York: Psychology Press.
edu.au/~joef/jforgas.htm. Forgas, J.P. (2007). When sad is better than happy: Negative affect can
improve the quality and effectiveness of persuasive messages and
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