ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews an emotion-network theory and associated research showing several domains in which social judgments and choices are influenced in a mood-congruous direction. In recent years, a relatively large research literature has accumulated investigating the impact of emotional states on social judgments and choices. In reviewing the literature on mood-congruity biases in social judgments, author have been struck by the parallel or similarity between the theory and data in favor of the mood-congruity hypothesis and those in favor of the cognitive consistency or dissonance theory of attitude maintenance. According to cognitive consistency theory, having a strongly held attitude on a personally significant topic should predispose one to an interrelated set of biases. The loss of interest in social activities is a familiar hallmark of the depressed person.
