Feeling and thinking: Preferences need no inferences.

1980/02/01 by Robert B. Zajonc · 4 citations
Decision Sciences · Psychology · #Categorization, perception, and language #Cognitive psychology #Decision-Making and Behavioral Economics #Feeling #Psychology #Social psychology #Visual and Cognitive Learning Processes

paper · doi:10.1037/0003-066x.35.2.151

openalex publication_date 1980/02/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/08

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Affect is considered by most contempo-rary theories to be postcognitive, that is, to occur only after considerable cognitive operations have been ac-complished. Yet a number of experimental results on preferences, attitudes, impression formation, and de-_ cision making, as well as some clinical phenomena, suggest that affective judgments may be fairly inde-pendent of, and precede in time, the sorts of percep-tual and cognitive operations commonly assumed to be the basis of these affective judgments. Affective re-actions to stimuli are often the very first reactions of the organism, and for lower organisms they are the dominant reactions. Affective reactions can occur without extensive perceptual and cognitive encoding, are made with greater confidence than cognitive judg-

Citations

• Attention And Cognitive Control 1
• Perceptual comparisons through the mind’s eye
• Levels of processing: A framework for memory research
• Interpersonal attraction and attitude similarity.
• The principle of congruity in the prediction of attitude change.
• The Communication of Inferior and Superior Attitudes by Verbal and Non‐verbal Signals*
• Self-schemata and processing information about the self.
• Attitudinal effects of mere exposure.
• The Repertoire of Nonverbal Behavior: Categories, Origins, Usage, and Coding

Cited by

• Of Neurons And Knowings: Constructivism, Coherence Psychology, And Their Neurodynamic Substrates
• Ambiguity and self-evaluation: The role of idiosyncratic trait definitions in self-serving assessments of ability.
• Self-esteem and intelligence affect influenceability: The mediating role of message reception.
• Name-letter effect [wikipedia]