This engaging, scholarly book by one of the leading social psychologists in the world reviews the rapidly growing body of research on the antecedents and consequences of positive and negative affect. Starting with studies that identify the dimensions along which affective experience can be located, it considers whether good and bad feelings are opposite ends of a bipolar continuum or are independent dimensions. It then looks at the many conditions that can determine whether an experience is felt as pleasant or unpleasant and examines how feelings can influence thought, memory, and action. For example, the author shows how the associative perspective accounts for mood effects on memory and why creativity is often enhanced by positive feelings. He also discusses how emotion arousal can affect the accuracy of eyewitness testimony and how good is the evidence that unusually hot weather might promote violent crimes.

"A masterful review and integration of the major findings and issues in the field. It is sheer joy to see the founder of a field give us his wise, thoughtful overview and state-of-the-art views." Gordon Bower, Stanford University

"...this volume presents a readable and generally thorough overview...Berkowitz provides a reasonable, fair treatment of a wide range of relevant research findings in lucid, accessible prose. Recommended, particularly for undergraduates in courses involving cognition and emotion." Choice

"engagingly written and thoughtful book...I have voiced, this is a good book. Psychologists who want to introduce topics in thier classroom related to the effects of general affective states on cognitive process will find this a rich source of issues and lecture materials." Contemporary Psychology APA REVIEW OF BOOKS 2001