Emotions and Beliefs

Few people would question nowadays that emotions influence beliefs but until recently little scientific research has been done on exactly how this effect takes place. This important new book, with contributions from some of the leading figures in the study of emotion, explores the relationship between emotions and beliefs from a number of different psychological perspectives. Combining theory with research, it seeks to develop coherent theoretical principles for understanding how emotions influence the content and strength of an individual's beliefs and their resistance or openness to modification.

Contributors; 1. The influence of emotions on beliefs Nico H. Frijda, Antony S. R. Manstead and Sacha Bem; 2. Feeling is believing: some affective influences on belief Gerald L. Clore and Karen Gasper; 3. Beliefs through emotions Nico H. Frijda and Batja Mesquita; 4. The sentiments and beliefs of distributed cognition Keith Oatley; 5. Feeling is believing? The role of processing strategies in mediating affective influence on beliefs Joseph Forgas; 6. The formation of beliefs at the interface of affective and cognitive processes Klaus Fiedler and Herbert Bless; 7. Anxiety, cognitive biases and beliefs Michael W. Eysenck; 8. A cognitive dissonance theory perspective on the role of emotion in the maintenance and change of beliefs and attitudes Eddie Harmon-Jones; 9. Relationship beliefs and emotion: reciprocal effects Margaret S. Clark and Ian Brissette; Indexes.