Feeling and Thinking

The role of affect in how people think and behave in social situations has been a source of fascination to laymen and philosophers since time immemorial. Surprisingly, most of what we know about the role of feelings in social thinking and behavior has been discovered only during the last two decades. This book reviews and integrates the most recent research and theories on this exciting topic, and features original contributions from leading researchers active in the area. The book covers fundamental issues, such as the nature, and relationship between affect and cognition, as well as chapters that deal with the cognitive antecedents of emotion, and the consequences of affect for social cognition and behavior. The book offers a highly integrated and comprehensive coverage of the field, and is suitable as a core textbook in advanced courses dealing with the role of affect in cognition and behavior.

• Contributors are high-profile researchers • Comprehensive, yet highly integrated approach • Chapters offer previously unpublished theoretical frameworks, and report new empirical data

1. Introduction: the role of affect in social cognition Joseph P. Forgas; Part I. Fundamental Issues: The Interplay of Affect and Cognition: 2. Nonconscious and noncognitive affect Robert Zajonc; 3. Challenge and threat: the interplay of affect and cognition Jim Blascovich and Wendy Berry Mendes; 4. Affect and appraisal Craig A. Smith and Leslie D. Kirby; Part II. The Informational Role of Affect: 5. Cognitive and clinical perspectives on mood dependent memory Eric Eich and Dawn Macauley; 6. Some conditions affecting overcorrection of the judgment-distorting influence of one’s feelings Leonard Berkowitz, Sara Jaffee, Eunkyung Jo and Bartholomeu T. Troccoli; 7. Mood as input: a configural view of mood effects Leonard L. Martin; 8. Affective forecasting and durability bias: the problem of the invisible shield Dan Gilbert; Part III. Affect and Information Processing: 9. Mood and general knowledge structures: happy moods and their impact on information processing Herbert Bless; 10. A connectionist approach to understanding the impact of mood on cognitive functions of assimilation and accommodation; 11. The role of different processing strategies in mediating mood effects on cognition Joseph P. Forgas; Part IV. Affect and Social Knowledge Structures: 12. Self-organization in emotional contexts Carolin Showers; 13. Prologues to a unified theory of affect, attitudes, stereotypes, and self-concept Anthony Greenwald; 14. Interpersonal emotions, social cognition, and self-relevant thought Mark Leary; 15. Emotional response categorization Paula Niedenthal; 16. Integration and conclusions Joseph P. Forgas.

‘I can’t imagine a more interesting collection of affect researchers under one roof! Joseph Forgas has brought together the best minds in psychology, young and old, to reflect on the interface between emotion and thought. An impressive collection of findings and theory, this volume will make you wish you had travelled to Sydney to attend the original symposium itself. Excellent investigators showcase their best work.’ Professor Peter Salovey, Yale University

‘At last there is a book that brings together the central findings and theories concerning the interface of social cognition and affect. This important new volume is sure to become the sourcebook for understanding the critical question of how feeling and thinking are interrelated. The editor has done an outstanding job of bringing together major contributors to answering this question. This exciting book is must reading for anyone interested in the vital role of affect in social life.’ Professor Tory Higgins, Columbia University