The Affect System

doi:10.1017/CBO9780511806582.014

14 - The Affect System

What Lurks below the Surface of Feelings?

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012

John T. Cacioppo ,

Jeff T. Larsen ,

N. Kyle Smith and

Gary G. Berntson

Edited by

Antony S. R. Manstead ,

Nico Frijda and

Agneta Fischer

Show author details

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

Book contents

Get access

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

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511806582.014 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2004

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aloise, P. A. (1993). Trait confirmation and disconfirmation: The development of attribution biases. Special Issue: Social context, social behavior, and socialization. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 55, 177–193CrossRef Google Scholar

Anderson, N. H. (1965). Averaging versus adding as a stimulus-combination rule in impression formation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2, 1–9CrossRef Google Scholar

Anderson, N. H. (1968). Likableness ratings of 555 personality trait words. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 9, 272–279CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Anderson, N. H. (1981). Integration theory applied to cognitive responses and attitudes. In R. E. Petty, T. M. Ostrom, and T. C. Brock (Eds.), Cognitive responses in persuasion (pp. 361–397). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum

Ansolabehere, S. D.; Iyengar, S.; & Simon, A. (1999). Replicating experiments using surveys and aggregate data: The case of negative advertising. American Political Science Review, 93, 901–909CrossRef Google Scholar

Bargh, J. A. (2001). The psychology of the mere. In J. A. Bargh and D. K. Apsley (Eds.), Unraveling the complexities of social life: A festschrift in honor of Robert B. Zajonc (pp. 25–37). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association

Bargh, J. A.; Chaiken, S.; Govender, R.; & Pratto, F. (1992). The generality of the automatic attitude activation effect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 62, 893–912CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Berntson, G. G.; Boysen, S. T.; & Cacioppo, J. T. (1993). Neurobehavioral organization and the cardinal principle of evaluative bivalence. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 702, 75–102CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Berntson, G. G.; Cacioppo, J. T.; & Sarter, M. (2003). Bottom-up: Implications for neurobehavioral models of anxiety and autonomic regulation. In R. J. Davidson, K. R. Sherer, and H. H. Goldsmith (Eds.), Handbook of affective sciences (pp. 1105–1116). New York: Oxford University Press

Blascovich, J.; Ernst, J. M.; Tomaka, J.; & Kelsey, R. M. (1993). Attitude accessibility as a moderator of autonomic reactivity during decision making. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 64, 165–176CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Boysen, S. T.; Berntson, G. G.; Hannan, M. B.; & Cacioppo, J. T. (1996). Quantity-based choices: Interference and symbolic representations in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 22, 76–86Google Scholar

Bradley, M. M.; Lang, P. J.; & Cuthbert, B. N. (1997). Affective norms for English words. Center for the Study of Emotion and Attention – National Institute of Mental Health (CSEA-NIMH), University of Florida, Gainesville

Brehm, J. W. (1956). Post-decision changes in desirability of alternatives. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 52, 384–389CrossRef Google Scholar

Cacioppo, J. T., & Berntson, G. G. (1994). Relationship between attitudes and evaluative space: A critical review, with emphasis on the separability of positive and negative substrates. Psychological Bulletin, 115, 401–423CrossRef Google Scholar

Cacioppo, J. T., & Berntson, G. G. (1999). The affect system: Architecture and operating characteristics. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 8, 133–137CrossRef Google Scholar

Cacioppo, J. T., & Gardner, W. L. (1993). What underlies medical donor attitudes and behavior?Health Psychology, 12, 269–271CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Cacioppo, J. T., & Gardner, W. L. (1999). Emotion. Annual Review of Psychology, 50, 191–214CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Cacioppo, J. T., & Petty, R. E. (1981). Effects of extent of thought on the pleasantness ratings of p-o-x triads: Evidence for three judgmental tendencies in evaluating social situations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 40, 1000–1009CrossRef Google Scholar

Cacioppo, J. T.; Crites, S. L. Jr.; Berntson, G. G.; & Coles, M. G. H. (1993). If attitudes affect how stimuli are processed, should they not affect the event-related brain potential?Psychological Science, 4, 108–112CrossRef Google Scholar

Cacioppo, J. T.; Crites, S. L. Jr.; Gardner, W. L.; & Berntson, G. G. (1994). Bioelectrical echoes from evaluative categorizations: I. A late positive brain potential that varies as a function of trait negativity and extremity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67, 115–125CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Cacioppo, J. T.; Crites, S. L. Jr.; & Gardner, W. L. (1996). Attitudes to the right: Evaluative processing is associated with lateralized late positive event-related brain potentials. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 22, 1205–1219CrossRef Google Scholar

Cacioppo, J. T.; Gardner, W. L.; & Berntson, G. G. (1997). Beyond bipolar conceptualizations and measures: The case of attitudes and evaluative space. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 1, 3–25CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Cacioppo, J. T.; Gardner, W. L.; & Berntson, G. G. (1999). The affect system has parallel and integrative processing components: Form follows function. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76, 839–855CrossRef Google Scholar

Cacioppo, J. T.; Priester, J. R.; & Berntson, G. G. (1993). Rudimentary determinants of attitude: II. Arm flexion and extension have differential effects on attitudes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65, 5–17CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Cannon, W. B. (1929). Bodily changes in pain, hunger, fear, and rage. New York: Appleton

Carver, C. S., & Scheier, M. F. (1990). Origins and functions of positive and negative affect: A control-process view. Psychological Review, 97, 19–35CrossRef Google Scholar

Center for the Study of Emotion and Attention – National Institute of Mental Health (CSEA-NIMH). (1995). The international affective picture system: Digitized photographs. Gainesville: The Center for Research in Psychophysiology, University of Florida

Coles, M. G. H.; Donchin, E.; & Porges, S. (1986). Psychophysiology: Systems, processes, and applications. New York: Guilford Press

Collani, G. von; Jacobsen, T.; & Schröger, E. (2000). Evaluatives Priming von Einstellungen und EKP-Messung. In Deutsche Gesellschaft für Psychologie (Hrsg.) Abstract CD-ROM zum 42. Kongress der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Psychologie. Lengerich: Pabst Science Publishers

Crites, S. L. Jr.; Cacioppo, J. T.; Gardner, W. L.; & Berntson, G. G. (1995). Bioelectrical echoes from evaluative categorization: II. A late positive brain potential that varies as a function of attitude registration rather than attitude report. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 68, 997–1013CrossRef Google Scholar

Crites, S. L. Jr., & Cacioppo, J. T. (1996). Electrocortical differentiation of evaluative and nonevaluative categorizations. Psychological Science, 7, 318–321CrossRef Google Scholar

Darwin, C. (1998). Expression of the emotions in man and animals (3d ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. (Original work published 1872.)

Gelder, B., & Vroomen, J. (2000). The perception of emotion by ear and by eye. Cognition & Emotion, 14, 289–311CrossRef Google Scholar

Diener, E. (1999). Introduction to the special section on the structure of emotion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76, 803–804CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Fabiani, M.; Gratton, G.; & Coles, M. G. H. (2000). Event-related brain potentials: Methods, theory, and application. In J. T. Cacioppo, L. G. Tassinary, and G. G Berntson (Eds.), Handbook of psychophysiology (2d ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Fishbein, M., & Ajzen, I. (1975). Belief, attitude, intention, and behavior: An introduction to theory and research. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley

Ganzach, Y. (1995). Negativity (and positivity) in performance evaluation: Three field studies. Journal of Applied Psychology, 80, 491–499CrossRef Google Scholar

Gardner, W. L. (1996). Biases in impression formation: A demonstration of a bivariate model of evaluation. Ph. D. dissertation, The Ohio State University

Gardner, W. L., & Cacioppo, J. T. (1995). Multi-gallon blood donors: Why do they give?Transfusion, 35, 795–798CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Hass, R. G.; Katz, I.; Rizzo, N.; Bailey, J.; & Eisenstadt, D. (1991). Cross-racial appraisal as related to attitude ambivalence and cognitive complexity. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 17, 83–92CrossRef Google Scholar

Heider, F. (1946). Attitudes and cognitive organization. Journal of Psychology, 21, 107–112CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Heider, F. (1958). The psychology of interpersonal relations. New York: Wiley

Higgins, E. T. (1997). Beyond pleasure and pain. American Psychologist, 52, 1280–1300CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Holbrook, A. L.; Krosnick, J. A.; Visser, P. S.; Gardner, W. L.; & Cacioppo, J. T. (2001). Attitudes toward presidential candidates and political parties: Initial optimism, inertial first impressions, and a focus on flaws. American Journal of Political Science, 45, 930–950CrossRef Google Scholar

Ito, T. A., & Cacioppo, J. T. (2000). Electrophysiological evidence of implicit and explicit categorization processes. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 36, 660–676CrossRef Google Scholar

Ito, T. A.; Larsen, J. T.; Smith, N. K.; & Cacioppo, J. T. (1998). Negative information weighs more heavily on the brain: The negativity bias in evaluative categorizations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75, 887–900CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Ito, T. A.; Cacioppo, J. T.; & Lang, P. J. (1998). Eliciting affect using the International Affective Picture System: Trajectories through evaluative space. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 24, 855–879CrossRef Google Scholar

Jackson, J. H. (1958). Evolution and dissolution of the nervous system (Croonian Lectures). In J. Taylor (Ed.), Selected writings of John Hughlings Jackson (Vol. 2). New York: Basic Books. (Original work published 1884.)

Kahneman, D. (1973). Attention and effort. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall

Kahneman, D., & Tversky, A. (1979). Prospect theory. Econometrica, 47, 263–292CrossRef Google Scholar

Kawasaki, H.; Adolphs, R.; Kaufman, O.; Damasio, H.; Damasio, A. R.; Granner, M.; Bakken, H.; Hori, T.; Howard, M. A. (2001). Single-neuron responses to emotional visual stimuli recorded in human ventral prefrontal cortex. Nature Neuroscience, 4, 15–16CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Kiewiet, D., & Rivers, D. (1984). A retrospective on retrospective voting. Political Behavior, 6, 369–393CrossRef Google Scholar

Kihlstrom, J. F. (1987). The cognitive unconscious. Science, 237(4821), 1445–1452CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Klein, J. G. (1991). Negativity effects in impression formation: A test in the political arena. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 17, 412–418CrossRef Google Scholar

Klein, J. G. (1996). Negativity in impressions of presidential candidates revisited: The 1992 election. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 22, 288–295CrossRef Google Scholar

Lang, P. J.; Bradley, M. M.; & Cuthbert, B. N. (1990). Emotion, attention, and the startle reflex. Psychological Review, 97, 377–395CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Lang, P. J.; Bradley, M. M.; & Cuthbert, B. N. (1995). International affective picture system (IAPS): Technical manual and affective ratings. The NIMH Center for the Study of Emotion and Attention, University of Florida, Gainesville

Larsen, J. T.; McGraw, P.; & Cacioppo, J. T. (2001). Can people feel happy and sad at the same time?Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81, 684–696CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Larsen, J. T.; McGraw, A. P.; Mellers, B. A.; & Cacioppo, J. T. (in press). “The agony of victory and the thrill of defeat: Mixed emotional reactions to disappointing wins and relieving losses.” Manuscript under review, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ.

LeDoux, J. E. (1995). Emotion: Clues from the brain. Annual Review of Psychology, 46, 209–235CrossRef Google Scholar

LeDoux, J. E. (2000). Cognitive-emotional interactions: Listen to the brain. In R. D. Lane, L. Nadel et al., (Eds.), Cognitive neuroscience of emotion. Series in affective science (pp. 129–155). New York: Oxford University Press

Loftus, E. F. (1979). Eyewitness testimony. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press

Lord, C. G.; Ross, L.; & Lepper, M. R. (1979). Biased assimilation and attitude polarization: The effects of prior theories on subsequently considered evidence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 36, 2098–2109CrossRef Google Scholar

Macrae, C. N.; Milne, A. B.; & Bodenhausen, G. V. (1994). Stereotypes as energy-saving devices: A peek inside the cognitive toolbox. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 66, 37–47CrossRef Google Scholar

McGuire, W. J. (1981). The probabilogical model of cognitive structure and attitude change. In R. E. Petty, T. M. Ostrom, and T. C. Brock (Eds.), Cognitive responses in persuasion (pp. 291–307). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum

McGuire, W. J., & McGuire, C. V. (1991). The content, structure, and operation of thought systems. In R. S. Wyer and T. K. Srull (Eds.), Advances in social cognition (Vol. 4, pp. 1–78)

McGuire, W. J., & McGuire, C. V. (1992). Cognitive-versus-affective asymmetries in thought systems. European Journal of Social Psychology, 22, 571–591CrossRef Google Scholar

Miller, N. E. (1959). Liberalization of basic S-R concepts: Extensions to conflict behavior, motivation and social learning. In S. Koch (Ed.), Psychology: A study of a science, Study 1 (pp. 198–292). New York: McGraw-Hill

Miller, N. E. (1961). Some recent studies on conflict behavior and drugs. American Psychologist, 16, 12–24CrossRef Google Scholar

Morris, J. S.; Öhman, A.; & Dolan, R. J. (1999). A subcortical pathway to the right amygdala mediating “unseen” fear. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 96, 1680–1685CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Nisbett, R. E., & Wilson, T. D. (1977). Telling more than we can know: Verbal reports on mental processes. Psychological Review, 84, 231–259CrossRef Google Scholar

Öhman, A., & Mineka, S. (2001). Fears, phobias, and preparedness: Toward an evolved module of fear and fear learning. Psychological Review, 108, 483–522CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

O'Doherty, J. O.; Kringelbach, M. L.; Rolls, E. T.; Hornak, J.; & Andrews, C. (2001). Abstract reward and punishment representations in the human orbitofrontal cortex. Nature Neuroscience, 4, 95–102CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Osgood, C. E.; Suci, G. J.; & Tannenbaum, P. H. (1957). The measurement of meaning. Urbana: University of Illinois Press

Pratto, F., & John, O. P. (1991). Automatic vigilance: The attention-grabbing power of negative social information. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 63, 380–391CrossRef Google Scholar

Robinson-Whelen, S.; Kim, C.; MacCallum, R. C.; & Kiecolt-Glaser, J. K. (1997). Distinguishing optimism from pessimism in older adults: Is it more important to be optimistic or not to be pessimistic?Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73, 1345–1353CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Roediger, H. L., & McDermott, K. B. (2000). Tricks of memory. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 7, 347–353Google Scholar

Rowe, P. M. (1989). Unfavorable information and interview decisions. In R. W. Eder and G. R. Ferris (Eds.), The employment interview: theory, research, and practice (pp. 77–89). Newbury Park, CA: Sage

Russell, J. A. (1980). A circumplex model of affect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 39, 1161–1178CrossRef Google Scholar

Russell, J. A., & Carroll, J. M. (1999). On the bipolarity of positive and negative affect. Psychological Bulletin, 125, 3–30CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Shah, J.; Higgins, E. T.; & Friedman, R. S. (1998). Performance incentives and means: How regulatory focus influences goal attainment. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 285–293CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Skowronski, J. J., & Carlston, D. E. (1989). Negativity and extremity biases in impression formation: A review of explanations. Psychological Bulletin, 105, 131–142CrossRef Google Scholar

Smith, C. A., & Kirby, L. D. (2001). Affect and cognitive appraisal processes. In J. P. Forgas (Ed.), Handbook of affect and social cognition (pp. 75–92). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum

Smith, N. K.; Larsen, J. T.; Chartrand, T. L.; & Cacioppo, J. T. (under review). Being bad isn't always good: Evaluative context moderates the attention bias toward negative information

Spelke, E.; Hirst, W.; & Neisser, U. (1976). Skills of divided attention. Cognition, 4, 215–230CrossRef Google Scholar

Taylor, S. E. (1991). Asymmetrical effects of positive and negative events: The mobilization-minimization hypothesis. Psychological Bulletin, 110, 67–85CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Watson, D., & Tellegen, A. (1985). Toward a consensual structure of mood. Psychological Bulletin, 98, 219–235CrossRef Google Scholar

Westermann, R.; Spies, K.; Stahl, G.; & Hesse, F. W. (1996). Relative effectiveness and validity of mood induction procedures: A meta-analysis. European Journal of Social Psychology, 26, 557–5803.0.CO;2-4>CrossRef Google Scholar

Ybarra, O., & Stephan, W. G. (1996). Misanthropic person memory. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70, 691–700CrossRef Google Scholar

Book contents

14 - The Affect System

Summary

Access options

References

Save book to Kindle

Save book to Dropbox

Save book to Google Drive