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Emotion and Motivation

This course takes a problem based-approach to understand the central role that emotions play in orchestrating people’s interactions with their (social) environments at various levels, ranging from the unconscious influence of gut-feelings in decision making to the meta-cognitive processes underlying the experience of meaning in our daily lives. To that end, we will consider everyday social phenomena, such as political preferences, consumer behavior, interpersonal relations, and well-being), and their relation to the antecedents and consequences of different, specific emotions.

The course familiarizes you with the different psychological perspectives on what emotions are, explains what triggers specific emotions and details the various processes through which emotions shape people’s interactions with their (social) environments. You will also develop an understanding of how the influence of emotions on behavior relates to certain phenomena and problems in society.