ABSTRACT
Further evidence that emotion and cognition are partners more than opposites comes from experimental psychology. For example, there have been numerous demonstrations that cognitive dissonance tends to be emotionally unpleasant.
The prevailing dogma through the mid-Twentieth century was that reward is drive reduction and that an equilibrium state of no drive is the most desirable. The work of Harry Harlow on monkeys deprived of mothers (Harlow, American Psychologist 1958, 13, 673–685) and observations of children in orphanages showed that this dogma is incorrect and that immature humans and animals need stimulation to develop normally. Furthermore, observations of many psychologists have shown that both positive and negative emotions, if not excessive, have value for cognitive function. Mild positive affect stimulates creativity, whereas mild negative affect promotes careful processing.
The optimal state of being (e.g., Csikszentmihalyi, Flow) involves both thinking and feeling. The capabilities required to approach that optimum include control of consciousness, ability to look beyond the frame in which information is presented, and emotional intelligence. A neural network theory incorporating the interdependence of cognition and emotion is briefly reviewed (Grossberg, Journal of Theoretical Neurobiology 1982, 1, 286–369).
