Baumeister, R. F., Vohs, K. D., Nathan DeWall, C., &Zhang, L. (2007). How emotion shapes behavior: Feedback, anticipation, and reflection, rather than direct causation.
Fear causes fleeing and thereby saves lives: this exemplifies a popular and common sense but increasingly untenable view that the direct causation of behavior is the primary function of emotion. Instead, the authors develop a theory of emotion as a feedback system whose influence on behavior is typically indirect. By providing feedback and stimulating retrospective appraisal of actions, conscious emotional states can promote learning and ...