Feeling and thinking: An affect‐as‐cognitive‐feedback account

Abstract

Despite the abundance of evidence demonstrating a dedicated link between positive and negative affect and specific ways of thinking, not all findings are consistent with this view. New research suggests that the relationship between affect and thinking can be altered and often reversed, by varying the mental context in which affect is experienced. The affect‐as‐cognitive‐feedback account can explain a wide range of phenomena, including both prior findings and this more recent research, and generate new predictions. According to this account, affective reactions confer value on accessible information processing strategies (e.g., global vs. local processing) and other mental content that happens to be accessible at the time. This view underscores that the relationship between affect and cognition is not fixed but instead is highly malleable. We present evidence that supports this account, along with new findings that suggest a malleable influence of specific affective states on cognition.

The Cognitive-Affective-Social Theory of Learning in digital Environments (CASTLE)

“…There are several meta-analyses (e.g., Gielen et al 2010 ; Hattie and Timperley 2007 ; Mory 2004 ; Narciss and Huth 2004 ; Shute 2008 ; Van der Kleij et al 2015 ) and reviews (e.g., Adcroft 2011 ; Carless 2006 ; Narciss 2020 ) conveying how such instructor feedback conveyed via digital materials has to be designed, when it should be used, and why it might work or not. According to the CASTLE, even a perceived emotional change of the learner through the processing of information from a digital material can be understood as a type of feedback (i.e., affect-as-cognitive-feedback-account; Ray and Huntsinger 2017 ). Some digital learning systems are also able to model learners’ psychological states to provide individualized instruction (i.e., intelligent tutoring systems; for an overview, see Ma et al 2014 ).…”

“…Overall, feedback triggers a social reaction that can lead to changes in the processing of information. Moreover, feedback as a social cue can trigger emotional, motivational, and metacognitive processes (e.g., Naismith and Lajoie 2018 ; Ray and Huntsinger 2017 ; Tricomi and DePasque 2016 ).…”

A bright side of sadness: The depolarizing role of sadness in intergroup conflicts

“…According to the Affect as Cognitive Feedback account (Clore & Huntsinger, 2007, 2009), individuals' emotions provide conscious information about their unconscious evaluation of situations. That is, emotions play a role in judgment and thought processes by providing adaptive information to the person about his or her unconscious perception of a situation (Ray & Huntsinger, 2017). Negative emotions, and specifically sadness, are a cue that indicates a need to change one's currently held cognitive processing style (Huntsinger et al, 2010; Huntsinger et al, 2009).…”

The role of emotions and identity-protection cognition when processing (mis)information.

“…Hypothesis 1 describes the inferential process for neutral stimuli, whereas Hypotheses 2 and 3 describe the inferential process for politicized stimuli in accordance to IPC. way into many theories on human reasoning (Blanchette & Caparos, 2013;Jung et al, 2014;Ray & Huntsinger, 2017). Emotions have been introduced to political science (Brader et al, 2008;MacKuen et al, 2010;Marcus et al, 2000Marcus et al, , 2011, as well as studies on misinformation (Bakir & McStay, 2018;Brady et al, 2017;Van Damme & Smets, 2014;Weeks, 2015) and motivated reasoning (Lodge & Taber, 2013;Lord et al, 1979;Martel et al, 2019;Suhay & Erisen, 2018;Taber & Lodge, 2016).…”