Imparting wisdom: Magda Arnold's contribution to research on emotion and motivation

Abstract

To highlight the wisdom that Magda Arnold's grand theory can still impart on the field of emotion and motivation, we consider how her writings on wanting, thinking, knowing, and doing resonate in current research on mood and information processing, emotion regulation, emotional intelligence, and intrinsic motivation. In the wanting section, we examine Arnold's hypothesis that emotion alters action by shaping what people want. In the thinking section, we discuss how thought might regulate emotional impulses and when it might attenuate and accentuate them. In the knowing section, we examine whether people always have partial, conscious knowledge about their emotions and motives and if this knowledge contributes to psychological adjustment. In the doing section, we examine how to promote action and to conceptualise the positive affect that accompanies action. In each section, we highlight Arnold's contribution and propose ways in which researchers can profit from her ideas.

Notes

¹It should be noted that the affect-as-information perspective is often equated with the view that affect operates as a heuristic cue and influences action when people do not engage in thoughtful decision making. Indeed, Schwarz and Clore (1988) appear to suggest this notion. However, they also make it clear that mood operates as a source of information when it is viewed as relevant and that it is the “perceived informational value” (p. 47) that determines the decision. In some cases thought may decrease the value of affective information while in others it could enhance the value of affective information. Therefore, it may be an error to believe that this view proposes that feelings only influence information processing when individuals fail to think about their decisions.