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The rise of affectivism

Nature Human Behaviour volume 5, pages 816–820 (2021)Cite this article

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Research over the past decades has demonstrated the explanatory power of emotions, feelings, motivations, moods, and other affective processes when trying to understand and predict how we think and behave. In this consensus article, we ask: has the increasingly recognized impact of affective phenomena ushered in a new era, the era of affectivism?

The behavioural and cognitive sciences have faced perennial challenges of incorporating emotions, feelings, motivations, moods, and other affective processes into models of human behaviour and the human mind. Such processes have long been marginalised or ignored, typically on the basis that they were irrational, un-measurable, or simply unenlightening. However, it has become increasingly difficult to deny that these processes are not only linked to our well-being, but also shape our behaviour and drive key cognitive mechanisms such as attention, learning, memory, and decision-making.

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Fig. 1: The scope and increasing impact of the affective sciences.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland

    Daniel Dukes, Tobias Brosch, Julien Deonna, Didier Grandjean, Klaus R. Scherer, Fabrice Teroni, Patrik Vuilleumier & David Sander

  2. Department of Special Education, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland

    Daniel Dukes

  3. Berkeley Law School, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA

    Kathryn Abrams

  4. Division of Humanities and Social Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA

    Ralph Adolphs

  5. Department of Computer Science, University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA

    Mohammed E. Ahmed & Ioannis Pavlidis

  6. Department of Anthropology, Brunel University London, London, UK

    Andrew Beatty

  7. Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Kent C. Berridge

  8. Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for History of Emotions, Australian Catholic University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia

    Susan Broomhall

  9. Department of Psychology, FPSE, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland

    Tobias Brosch, Didier Grandjean & David Sander

  10. Institute of Human Development, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA

    Joseph J. Campos

  11. Department of Psychology, Durham University, Durham, UK

    Zanna Clay

  12. Cognitive Science Centre, University of Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel, Switzerland

    Fabrice Clément

  13. Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    William A. Cunningham

  14. Brain and Creativity Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Antonio Damasio

  15. Dornsife Cognitive Neuroscience Imaging Center, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Hanna Damasio

  16. Department of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA

    Justin D’Arms

  17. Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for History of Emotions, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

    Jane W. Davidson

  18. Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands

    Beatrice de Gelder

  19. Department of Computer Science, University College London, London, UK

    Beatrice de Gelder

  20. Department of Philosophy, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland

    Julien Deonna & Fabrice Teroni

  21. Department of Philosophy, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Ronnie de Sousa

  22. Department of Psychology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Paul Ekman

  23. Paul Ekman Group, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Paul Ekman

  24. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Phoebe C. Ellsworth

  25. Department of Economics, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Ernst Fehr

  26. Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Agneta Fischer & Disa Sauter

  27. Centre for Language Studies, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

    Ad Foolen

  28. Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany

    Ute Frevert

  29. Institute for Creative Technologies, University of Southern California, Playa Vista, CA, USA

    Jonathan Gratch

  30. Department of Psychology, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Leslie Greenberg

  31. Department of Philosophy, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA

    Patricia Greenspan

  32. Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

    James J. Gross, Brian Knutson & Jeanne Tsai

  33. Psychology Department, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel

    Eran Halperin

  34. Department of Psychology and Methods, Jacobs University Bremen, Bremen, Germany

    Arvid Kappas

  35. Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA

    Dacher Keltner & Robert W. Levenson

  36. Department of Classics, New York University, New York, NY, USA

    David Konstan

  37. Cognitive Psychology Unit, Institute of Psychology, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands

    Mariska E. Kret

  38. Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, NY, USA

    Joseph E. LeDoux

  39. Harvard Kennedy School and Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Jennifer S. Lerner

  40. Department of Social and Decision Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    George Loewenstein

  41. School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK

    Antony S. R. Manstead

  42. Vanderbilt University Law School, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA

    Terry A. Maroney

  43. Department of Psychology, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

    Agnes Moors

  44. Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA

    Paula Niedenthal & Seth D. Pollak

  45. Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

    Brian Parkinson

  46. CNRS-Institut des Systèmes Intelligents et de Robotique, Sorbonne University, Paris, France

    Catherine Pelachaud

  47. Department of Experimental, Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

    Gilles Pourtois

  48. Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology, Freie Universität, Berlin, Germany

    Birgitt Roettger-Roessler

  49. Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Boston College, Boston, MA, USA

    James A. Russell

  50. Philosophy Department, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Andrea Scarantino

  51. Department of Psychology, University of Munich, Munich, Germany

    Klaus R. Scherer

  52. Department of History, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA

    Peter Stearns

  53. Department of Sociology, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA, USA

    Jan E. Stets & Jonathan Turner

  54. Département de Philosophie, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada

    Christine Tappolet

  55. School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Reading, UK

    Carien Van Reekum

  56. Department of Neuroscience, University Medical School, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland

    Patrik Vuilleumier

  57. School of Humanities, University of Brighton, Brighton, UK

    Tim Wharton

Authors
  1. Daniel Dukes
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  2. Kathryn Abrams
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  3. Ralph Adolphs
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  4. Mohammed E. Ahmed
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  5. Andrew Beatty
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  6. Kent C. Berridge
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  7. Susan Broomhall
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  8. Tobias Brosch
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  9. Joseph J. Campos
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  10. Zanna Clay
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  11. Fabrice Clément
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  12. William A. Cunningham
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  13. Antonio Damasio
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  14. Hanna Damasio
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  15. Justin D’Arms
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  16. Jane W. Davidson
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  17. Beatrice de Gelder
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  18. Julien Deonna
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  19. Ronnie de Sousa
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  20. Paul Ekman
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  21. Phoebe C. Ellsworth
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  22. Ernst Fehr
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  23. Agneta Fischer
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  24. Ad Foolen
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  25. Ute Frevert
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  26. Didier Grandjean
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  27. Jonathan Gratch
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  28. Leslie Greenberg
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  29. Patricia Greenspan
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  30. James J. Gross
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  31. Eran Halperin
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  32. Arvid Kappas
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  33. Dacher Keltner
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  34. Brian Knutson
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  35. David Konstan
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  36. Mariska E. Kret
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  37. Joseph E. LeDoux
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  38. Jennifer S. Lerner
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  39. Robert W. Levenson
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  40. George Loewenstein
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  41. Antony S. R. Manstead
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  42. Terry A. Maroney
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  43. Agnes Moors
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  44. Paula Niedenthal
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  45. Brian Parkinson
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  46. Ioannis Pavlidis
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  47. Catherine Pelachaud
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  48. Seth D. Pollak
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  49. Gilles Pourtois
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  50. Birgitt Roettger-Roessler
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  51. James A. Russell
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  52. Disa Sauter
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  53. Andrea Scarantino
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  54. Klaus R. Scherer
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  55. Peter Stearns
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  56. Jan E. Stets
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  57. Christine Tappolet
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  58. Fabrice Teroni
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  59. Jeanne Tsai
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  60. Jonathan Turner
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  61. Carien Van Reekum
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  62. Patrik Vuilleumier
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  63. Tim Wharton
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  64. David Sander
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Contributions

The manuscript was written primarily by D.D. and D. Sander after taking into account the inputs and rounds of comments from the other co-authors (K.A., R.A., M.E.A., A.B., K.C.B., S.B., T.B., J.J.C., Z.C., F.C., W.A.C., A.D., H.D., J. D’Arms, J.W.D., B.d.G., J. Deonna, R.d.S., P.E., P.C.E., E.F., A. Fischer, A. Foolen., U.F., D.G., J.G., L.G., P.G., J.J.G., E.H., A.K., D. Keltner, B.K., D. Konstan, M.E.K., J.E.L.D., J.S.L., R.W.L., G.L., A.S.R.M., T.A.M., A.M., P.N., B.P., I.P., C.P., S.D.P., G.P., B.R.-R., J.A.R., D. Sauter, A.S., K.R.S., P.S., J.E.S., C.T., F.T., J. Tsai, J. Turner, C.V.R., P.V., and T.W.). I.P. and M.E.A. prepared Fig. 1b–g. Except for D.D. and D. Sander, the authorship list is in alphabetical order.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Daniel Dukes or David Sander.

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Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Dataset address, R code directory, Explanation of Fig. 1b, Explanation of Fig. 1c, Explanations of Fig. 1d–g, Supplementary Reading list.

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Dukes, D., Abrams, K., Adolphs, R. et al. The rise of affectivism. Nat Hum Behav 5, 816–820 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-021-01130-8

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