Introduction

The question of the effects of emotions on beliefs and agency is also the question of the functions of emotions: what are they for, these intimate aspects of our mental lives? In this chapter I discuss the social emotions and the social goals they serve. Particularly, I consider long-term emotional states, together with the effects they have on our beliefs about what is most important to us, our relationships with others.

Cognitive theories of emotion generally, including the theory with which I have been associated (Oatley & Johnson-Laird, 1987; 1996), have been relatively good in their discussions of emotions as short-term events lasting from a few seconds to a few days, which happen to individuals, and which change the priority of goals. Moods, too, have been on the research agenda, especially as they affect social judgment (Forgas, 1995).

Such theories have been less good on emotional states as mediators of relationships between people, and as long-term dispositions. I start this chapter by describing these in turn, and then continue with a set of theoretical and empirical studies to explore their implications.

Socio-emotional goals

In terms of evolution, attachment made mammalian life possible. Though we usually define mammals as animals that bear live young, and feed them with milk, one could also say that behaviorally they are the animals that in infancy are vulnerable and depend on parents for safety.