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

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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).

Information

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

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