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10 - The Interaction Between Affect and Motivation in Social Judgments and Behavior

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 August 2010

By
Joseph P. Forgas  and
Simon M. Laham
Edited by
Joseph P. Forgas ,
Kipling D. Williams  and
Simon M. Laham
Joseph P. Forgas
Affiliation:
Scientia Professor of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
Simon M. Laham
Affiliation:
Researcher in the school of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
Joseph P. Forgas
Affiliation:
University of New South Wales, Sydney
Kipling D. Williams
Affiliation:
University of New South Wales, Sydney
Simon M. Laham
Affiliation:
University of New South Wales, Sydney
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Summary

INTRODUCTION

The influence of affective states on motivated action has long been supported by anecdotal evidence as well as in literature. A well-known short story on chess by Thomas Mann describes how upbeat or downbeat background music can produce sudden shifts in mood, motivating chess players to shift their strategies from aggressive to defensive and back again in line with the changing affective tone of the melody. Just as in chess, social interaction demands complex and elaborate planning, as actors need to interpret ambiguous social situations and plan their interpersonal strategies accordingly (Forgas, 1998a). There is convergent recent evidence from evolutionary social psychology, neuropsychology, and psychophysiology supporting the view that affect is an essential component of motivated social thinking and behavior (Adolphs & Damasio, 2001; Blascovich & Mendes, 2000; Haselton & Buss, 2003).

This chapter will review recent empirical evidence, including several studies from our laboratory, showing that fleeting, superficial mood states can have highly predictable and significant motivational influences on how people behave in strategic social situations. Generally, participants in a good mood behave in a much more confident and even assertive way, while participants in a bad mood act in a pessimistic and cautious manner (Forgas, 1999a, 1999b, 2002). The chapter will also consider the psychological mechanisms that allow mild mood states to influence strategic social behaviors. Affective states have a particularly strong influence on thoughts and behaviors when social actors use open and elaborate cognitive processing when considering strategic options in social situations.

Type
Chapter
Information
Social Motivation
Conscious and Unconscious Processes
 , pp. 168 - 193
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2004

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