Feeling and Thinking: The Role of Affect in Social Cognition

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 behaviour has been discovered only during the last two decades of the 20th century. This text reviews and integrates research and theories on this topic and features original contributions from leading researchers 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 behaviour. The book offers a highly integrated and comprehensive coverage of the field, and is designed as a core textbook in advanced courses dealing with the role of affect in cognition and behaviour.