The nature of pleasure

(from the chapter) Critiques 2 core theses of appraisal theory: (1) appraisal is responsible for the elicitation of emotions, and (2) appraisal is responsible for the differentiation of emotions. The authors argue, first, that much research purporting to provide support for appraisal theory fails to do so by not clearly separating the antecedent, appraisal, from the consequent, emotion. Second, the authors argue that the available evidence does not show an unambiguous causal relation to emotions, and appraisals appear as consequences of emotions as well as antecedents. Third, emotion elicitation depends not only on appraisal but also on prevailing emotional response tendencies and, on occasion, on direct stimulus effects. Appraisals and emotions thus do not stand in such a clear relationship as appraisal theory would suggest. Fourth, the authors argue that a more or less complete evaluation of the role of appraisal in emotion elicitation requires extending the domain of dependent variables currently used in this context.