Emotions and action

This chapter discusses the relationships between emotion and action. Emotion, by its very nature, is change in action readiness to maintain or change one's relationship to an object or event. Motivation, or motivational change, is one of the key aspects of emotions. Even so, action follows only under certain conditions, including the presence and availability of an action repertoire, an equilibrium of the costs and benefits of action, and the presence of resources and motivation to consider the costs and benefits. There are trade-offs between selection from the repertoire and the cost-benefit aspects. The repertoire usually includes low-effort actions that considerably expand the influence of emotions on action.