Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-5cf477f64f-r2nwp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-04-08T12:39:17.201Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

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
Get access

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

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adolphs, R., & Damasio, A. (2001). The interaction of affect and cognition: A neurobiological perspective. In J. P. Forgas (Ed.), The handbook of affect and social cognition (pp. 27–49). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum
Baron, R. (1987). Interviewers' moods and reactions to job applicants: The influence of affective states on applied social judgments. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 16, 16–28CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baumeister, R. F. (1998). The self. In D. T. Gilbert, S. T. Fiske, & G. Lindzey (Eds.), The handbook of social psychology (pp. 680–740). New York: Oxford University Press
Berkowitz, L., Jaffee, S., Jo, E., & Troccoli, B. T. (2000). On the correction of feeling-induced judgmental biases. In J. P. Forgas (Ed.), Feeling and thinking: The role of affect in social cognition (pp. 131–152). New York: Cambridge University Press
Blascovich, J., & Mendes, W. B. (2000). Challenge and threat appraisals: The role of affective cues. In J. P. Forgas (Ed.), Feeling and thinking: The role of affect in social cognition (pp. 59–82). New York: Cambridge University Press
Blascovich, J., & Tomaka, J. (1996). The biopsychosocial model of arousal regulation. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 28, 1–51CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bless, H. (2000). The interplay of affect and cognition: The mediating role of general knowledge structures. In J. P. Forgas (Ed.), Feeling and thinking: The role of affect in social cognition (pp. 201–222). New York: Cambridge University Press
Bower, G. H. (1981). Mood and memory. American Psychologist, 36 129–148CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bower, G. H. (1991). Mood congruity of social judgments. In J. P. Forgas (Ed.), Emotion and social judgments (pp. 31–53). New York: Pergamon Press
Bower, G. H., & Forgas, J. P. (2001). Mood and social memory. In J. P. Forgas (Ed.), The handbook of affect and social cognition (pp. 95–120). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum
Brown, J. D., & Mankowski, T. A. (1993). Self-esteem, mood, and self-evaluation: Changes in the mood and the way you see you. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 64 421–430CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Buss, D. (1999). Evolutionary psychology: The new science of the mind. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon
Byrne, D., & Clore, G. L. (1970). A reinforcement model of evaluation responses. Personality: An International Journal, 1, 103–128Google Scholar
Carver, C., & Scheier, C. (1998). The self-regulation of behavior. In R. Wyer & T. Srull (Eds.), Advances in social cognition (Vol. 12, pp. 1–106). Mahwah, NJ: ErlbaumCrossRef
Cialdini, R. B., & Kenrick, D. T. (1976). Altruism as hedonism: A social development perspective on the relationship of negative mood state and helping. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 34, 907–914CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ciarrochi, J. V., & Forgas, J. P. (1999). On being tense yet tolerant: The paradoxical effects of trait anxiety and aversive mood on intergroup judgments. Group Dynamics: Theory, Research and Practice, 3, 227–238CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, M. S., & Isen, A. M. (1982). Towards understanding the relationship between feeling states and social behavior. In A. H. Hastorf & A. M. Isen (Eds.), Cognitive social psychology (pp. 73–108). Amsterdam: Elsevier/North-Holland
Clore, G. L., & Byrne, D. (1974). The reinforcement affect model of attraction. In T. L. Huston (Ed.), Foundations of interpersonal attraction (pp. 143–170). New York: Academic PressCrossRef
Clore, G. L., Schwarz, N., & Conway, M. (1994). Affective causes and consequences of social information processing. In R. S. Wyer & T. K. Srull (Eds.), Handbook of social cognition (2nd ed., Vol. 1, pp. 323–419). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum
Damasio, A. R. (1994). Descartes' error. New York: Grosste/Putnam
De Sousa, R. D. (1987). The rationality of emotion. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press
Erber, R., & Erber, M. (2001). The role of motivated social cognition in the regulation of affective states. In J. P. Forgas (Ed.), The handbook of affect and social cognition (pp. 275–292). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum
Feshbach, S., & Singer, R. D. (1957). The effects of fear arousal and suppression of fear upon social perception. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 55, 283–288CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fiedler, K. (1990). Mood-dependent selectivity in social cognition. In W. Stroebe & M. Hewstone (Eds.), European review of social psychology (Vol. 1, pp. 1–32). New York: WileyCrossRef
Fiedler, K. (1991). On the task, the measures and the mood in research on affect and social cognition. In J. P. Forgas (Ed.), Emotion and social judgments (pp. 83–104). Elmsford, NY: Pergamon Press
Fiedler, K. (2000). Towards an integrative account of affect and cognition phenomena using the BIAS computer algorithm. In J. P. Forgas (Ed.), Feeling and thinking: The Role of affect in social cognition (pp. 223–252). New York: Cambridge University Press
Fiedler, K., & Forgas, J. P. (Eds.). (1988). Affect, cognition, and social behavior: New evidence and integrative attempts (pp. 44–62). Toronto: Hogrefe
Forgas, J. P. (1985). Interpersonal behaviour: The psychology of social interaction. Oxford and Sydney: Pergamon Press
Forgas, J. P. (1989). Mood effects on decision-making strategies. Australian Journal of Psychology, 41, 197–214CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Forgas, J. P. (1991). Mood effects on partner choice: Role of affect in social decisions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 61, 708–720CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Forgas, J. P. (1992). Affect in social judgments and decisions: A multi-process model. In M. Zanna (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 25, pp. 227–275). San Diego, CA: Academic PressCrossRef
Forgas, J. P. (1995). Mood and judgment: The affect infusion model (AIM). Psychological Bulletin, 117(1), 39–66CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Forgas, J. P. (1998a). On feeling good and getting your way: Mood effects on negotiation strategies and outcomes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 565–577CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Forgas, J. P. (1998b). Asking nicely? Mood effects on responding to more or less polite requests. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 24, 173–185CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Forgas, J. P. (1998c). Happy and mistaken? Mood effects on the fundamental attribution error. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75, 318–331CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Forgas, J. P. (1999a). On feeling good and being rude: Affective influences on language use and request formulations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76, 928–939CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Forgas, J. P. (1999b). Feeling and speaking: Mood effects on verbal communication strategies. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 25, 850–863CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Forgas, J. P. (Ed.). (2000). Feeling and thinking: The role of affect in social cognition. New York: Cambridge University Press
Forgas, J. P. (Ed.). (2001a). The handbook of affect and social cognition. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum
Forgas, J. P. (2001b). Mood effects on self-disclosure. Unpublished manuscript
Forgas, J. P. (2002). Feeling and doing: Affective influences on interpersonal behavior. Psychological Inquiry, 13, 1–28CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Forgas, J. P., & Bower, G. H. (1987). Mood effects on person-perception judgments. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 53(1), 53–60CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Forgas, J. P., Bower, G. H., & Krantz, S. (1984). The influence of mood on perceptions of social interactions. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 20, 497–413CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Forgas, J. P., & Ciarocchi, J. (2000). Affect infusion and affect control: The interactive role of conscious and unconscious processing strategies in mood management. In Y. Rossetti & A. Revonsuo (Eds.), Beyond dissociation: Interaction between dissociated implicit and explicit processing (pp. 243–271). Amsterdam: John BenjaminsCrossRef
Forgas, J. P., & Ciarocchi, J. (2002). On managing moods: Evidence for the role of homeostatic cognitive strategies in affect regulation. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 28, 336–345CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Forgas, J. P., & Fiedler, K. (1996). Us and them: Mood effects on intergroup discrimination. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70, 36–52CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Forgas, J. P. Johnson, R., & Ciarrochi, J. (1998). Affect control and affect infusion: A multi-process account of mood management and personal control. In M. Kofta, G. Weary, & G. Sedek (Eds.), Personal control in action: Cognitive and motivational mechanisms (pp. 155–189). New York: Plenum Press
Forgas, J. P., & Moylan, S. J. (1987). After the movies: The effects of transient mood states on social judgments. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 13, 478–489CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frijda, N. (1986). The emotions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Haselton, M., & Buss, D. (2003). Errors in design or by design? An evolutionary perspective on biases in social judgment and decision making. In J. P. Forgas, K. D. Williams, & W. von Hippel (Eds.), Responding to the social world: Implicit and explicit processes in social judgments and decisions (pp. 23–43). Philadelphia: Psychology Press
Higgins, E. T. (2001). Promotion and prevention experiences: Relating emotions to non-emotional motivational states. In J. P. Forgas (Ed.), The handbook of affect and social cognition (pp. 186–211). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum
Hilgard, E. R. (1980). The trilogy of mind: Cognition, affection and conation. Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences, 16, 107–1173.0.CO;2-Y>CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Locke, K. D., & Horowitz, L. M. (1990). Satisfaction in interpersonal interactions as a function of similarity in level of dysphoria. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 58, 823–831CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mayer, J. D., Gaschke, Y. N., Braverman, D. L., & Evans, T. W. (1992). Mood congruent judgment is a general effect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 63, 119–132CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parrott, W. G. (2001). The nature of emotion. In A. Tesser & N. Schwarz (Eds.), Intraindividual processes (pp. 375–390). Oxford: BlackwellCrossRef
Ross, M., & Buehler, R. (2001). Identity through time: Constructing personal pasts and futures. In A. Tesser & N. Schwarz (Eds.), Intraindividual processes (pp. 518–544). Oxford: BlackwellCrossRef
Rusting, C. (2001). Personality as a mediator of affective influences on social cognition. In J. P. Forgas (Ed.), The handbook of affect and social cognition (pp. 371–391). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum
Salovey, P., O'Leary, A., Stretton, M., Fishkin, S., & Drake, C. A. (1991). Influence of mood on judgments about health and illness. In J. P. Forgas (Ed.), Emotion and social judgments (pp. 241–262). Oxford: Pergamon Press
Schachter, S. (1959). The psychology of affiliation. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press
Schwarz, N. (1990). Feelings as information: Informational and motivational functions of affective states. In E. T. Higgins & R. Sorrentino (Eds.), Handbook of motivation and cognition: Foundations of social behaviour (Vol. 2, pp. 527–561). New York: Guilford Press
Sedikides, C. (1992a). Changes in the valence of self as a function of mood. Review of Personality and Social Psychology, 14, 271–311Google Scholar
Sedikides, C. (1992b). Mood as a determinant of attentional focus. Cognition and Emotion, 6, 129–148CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sedikides, C. (1994). Incongruent effects of sad mood on self-conception valence: It's a matter of time. European Journal of Social Psychology, 24, 161–172CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sedikides, C. (1995). Central and peripheral self-conceptions are differentially influenced by mood: Tests of the differential sensitivity hypothesis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69(4), 759–777CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Smith, S. M., & Petty, R. E. (1995). Personality moderators of mood congruency effects on cognition: The role of self-esteem and negative mood regulation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 68, 1092–1107CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Trope, Y., Ferguson, M., & Raghunanthan, R. (2001). Mood as a resource in processing self-revalant information. In J. P. Forgas (Ed.), The handbook of affect and social cognition (pp. 256–274). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum
Velten, E. (1968). A laboratory task for induction of mood states. Advances in Behavior Research and Therapy, 6, 473–482CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wilson, T. D., Gilbert, D. T., & Centerbar, D. B. (in press). Making sense: The causes of emotional evanescence. In J. Carrillo & I. Brocas (Eds.), Economics and psychology. New York: Oxford University Press
Zajonc, R. B. (1980). Feeling and thinking: Preferences need no inferences. American Psychologist, 35, 151–175CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zajonc, R. B. (2000). Feeling and thinking: Closing the debate over the independence of affect. In J. P. Forgas (Ed.), Feeling and thinking: The role of affect in social cognition (pp. 31–58). New York: Cambridge University Press

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×