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Affective incoherence: when affective concepts and embodied reactions clash
David B Centerbar1, Simone Schnall, Gerald L Clore
1Center for Health Policy and Research, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Shrewsbury, MA 01545, USA. david.centerbar@umassmed.edu
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
|March 26, 2008
Summary
Coherent affective information from concepts and experiences improves story recall. Affective incoherence negatively impacts cognitive performance, suggesting epistemic benefits of affective alignment.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Affective Science
- Social Cognition
Background:
- Understanding the interplay between conceptual and experiential affective information is crucial for cognitive processing.
- Previous research has explored affective priming, but the impact of coherence between different affective sources remains less understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the effects of coherence versus incoherence between conceptual and experiential affective information on cognitive performance.
- To examine how different types of affective experiences (actions, feelings, behaviors) interact with affective concepts.
Main Methods:
- Five studies were conducted, crossing the priming of happy and sad concepts with various affective experiences.
- Experiential manipulations included approach/avoidance actions, reported happy/sad feelings, and happy/sad expressive behaviors.
- Cognitive performance was assessed, primarily through story recall.
Main Results:
- In all five studies, coherence between affective concepts and affective experiences resulted in significantly better story recall compared to affective incoherence.
- Affective incoherence led to impaired cognitive performance, specifically in memory recall.
Conclusions:
- Affective coherence between conceptual and experiential sources provides epistemic benefits, enhancing cognitive functions like memory.
- Affective incoherence is cognitively costly, negatively impacting performance.
- Experiential affective cues may serve as validation for concurrently activated affective concepts.
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