Affect and cognition, part 2: affect types and mindset types

Abstract

Purpose

A typology of basic affective and cognitive orientations is developed within a generic cultural socio-cognitive trait theory of a “plural affect agency” (the emotional organisation).

Design/methodology/approach

Affective personality is defined in terms of a set of affect traits. These are defined in terms of epistemically independent bipolar affect types, which in turn coalesce into a set of mindset types that can be related to the classical four temperaments.

Findings

Different affect types are supposed to differently regulate the three stages of emotion management. Affect types and cognitive types provide mutual contexts, and foster reciprocal affect and cognitive orientations.

Research limitations/implications

The theory provides guidance for analysis of cultural differentiation within social systems (societies/organisations), with reference to identification, elaboration and execution of “emotion knowledge” and “cognitive knowledge”.

Practical implications

Understanding interdependencies between cognition and emotion regulation is a prerequisite of managerial intelligence and strategic cultural intelligence, which is in demand for interaction and integration processes across social systems.

Originality/value

From the framework model linking emotion expression and emotion regulation with cognition analysis, a typology arises allowing ex-ante expectation of typical patterns of behaviour.

Citation

Fink, G. and Yolles, M. (2018), "Affect and cognition, part 2: affect types and mindset types", Kybernetes, Vol. 47 No. 1, pp. 99-117. https://doi.org/10.1108/K-07-2017-0263