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14 - The Affect System

What Lurks below the Surface of Feelings?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

By
John T. Cacioppo ,
Jeff T. Larsen ,
N. Kyle Smith  and
Gary G. Berntson
Edited by
Antony S. R. Manstead ,
Nico Frijda  and
Agneta Fischer
John T. Cacioppo
Affiliation:
University of Chicago
Jeff T. Larsen
Affiliation:
Texas Tech University
N. Kyle Smith
Affiliation:
Ohio Wesleyan University
Gary G. Berntson
Affiliation:
Ohio State University
Antony S. R. Manstead
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
Nico Frijda
Affiliation:
Universiteit van Amsterdam
Agneta Fischer
Affiliation:
Universiteit van Amsterdam
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Summary

ABSTRACT

The structure of affective space has been debated for more than fifty years. According to the model of evaluative space (Cacioppo & Berntson, 1994; Cacioppo, Gardner, & Berntson, 1997), the common metric governing approach/withdrawal is generally a single bipolar dimension at response stages that itself is the consequence of multiple operations, such as the activation function for positivity (appetition) and the activation function for negativity (aversion), at earlier affective processing stages. Accordingly, affective space can be bipolar or bivariate depending on specific circumstances. We further extend the model by reviewing evidence for coactivated emotional states and component processes underlying affect, emotion, and feeling. Two different event-related brain components that reflect implicit affective processing provide specific information on the general location and timing of component affective processing.

Not long ago, the camera was a metaphor for memory, the computer for the brain. Memory, however, does not activate a stored depiction of the event but rather reconstructs the event (Loftus, 1979; Roediger & McDermott, 2000). Contrary to the doctrine of rationality, the inferences drawn from facts (e.g., syllogisms) are not coldly calculated conditional probabilities but a calculus shaped in part by wishful thinking (McGuire, 1981). People do not weigh evidence objectively but generally exercise a confirmatory bias. For example, disagreeing parties who receive mixed messages containing evidence for and against each party's position tend to polarize rather than moderate their attitudes (Lord, Ross, & Lepper, 1979).

Type
Chapter
Information
Feelings and Emotions
The Amsterdam Symposium
 , pp. 223 - 242
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2004

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