The topic of emotion and decision making is an old one. Classic Western philosophical perspectives generally considered emotion a contaminating influence on cognition, one that needed to be suppressed, ignored, or ideally brought in line with reason. Recent psychological research shows that, contrary to such pessimistic perspectives, emotion plays a largely functional and adaptive role in regulating cognition and decision making. We first outline how affect regulates cognition using the affect‐as‐information account as a guiding framework. We next discuss foundational research on the role of emotion in regulating cognition and decision making consistent with this account. Finally, we end with a discussion of new research developments and open research questions.
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