ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we address two issues raised by Berkowitz regarding the role of cognition in emotion. One issue is essentially semantic, whereas the other is more substantive. The semantic issue deals with Berkowitz’s use of the term cognitive. He restricts it (unnecessarily, we think) to processes that are conscious, effortful, deliberate, and rational, and refers to processes that do not possess these qualities as noncognitive. The second issue we address involves Berkowitz’s suggestion that negative emotions produce in people a tendency to engage in aggressive behavior that can only be overcome with effortful processing. We argue that (a) most cognitive processing is not conscious, effortful, deliberate, and rational; and that (b) the link between negative emotions and aggressive behavior can be altered with effortless, nonconscious processing relatively early in the information processing sequence.
