ABSTRACT
In the previous chapters we have discussed a wide spectrum of aspects that are involved in individuals' construction of their social reality. We have learned about encoding, retrieval, and judgmental processes and how they relate to each other. At this point one might wonder whether, with all the emphasis on cognitive aspects, there is a place for individuals' feelings, for their affective states. After all, most of us have had the experience that the world appears quite differently depending on how we feel. For example, we would perceive a party situation (as outlined at the beginning in Chapter 1) differently depending on whether we approach the situation in a happy, a sad, or an angry mood.
