Unconscious Emotion
Abstract
Conscious feelings have traditionally been viewed as a central and necessary ingredient of emotion. Here we argue that emotion also can be genuinely unconscious. We describe evidence that positive and negative reactions can be elicited subliminally and remain inaccessible to introspection. Despite the absence of subjective feelings in such cases, subliminally induced affective reactions still influence people's preference judgments and even the amount of beverage they consume. This evidence is consistent with evolutionary considerations suggesting that systems underlying basic affective reactions originated prior to systems for conscious awareness. The idea of unconscious emotion is also supported by evidence from affective neuroscience indicating that subcortical brain systems underlie basic “liking” reactions. More research is needed to clarify the relations and differences between conscious and unconscious emotion, and their underlying mechanisms. However, even under the current state of knowledge, it appears that processes underlying conscious feelings can become decoupled from processes underlying emotional reactions, resulting in genuinely unconscious emotion.
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The negative affective state resulting from conflicting representations may or may not be something the subject is aware of.
“although this negative affective state may or may not be something the subject is aware of (Lieberman et al., 2001 and see also Winkielman & Berridge, 2004 on unconscious affect and unconscious emotions in general as well as Berger, Nanay, & Quilty‐Dunn, 2018 for a philosophical summary).”
From Conative Dissonance (2026) · cites this paper as Winkielman & Berridge, 2004
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“…& Han, 2013), although this negative affective state may or may not be something the subject is aware of (Lieberman et al., 2001 and see also Winkielman & Berridge, 2004 on unconscious affect and unconscious emotions in general as well as Berger, Nanay, & Quilty-Dunn, 2018 for a…”
- Authors
- Winkielman, P., & Berridge, K. C.
- Affiliations
- University of California San Diego (US)
- University of Michigan (US)
- Venue
- Current Directions in Psychological Science
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2004-06
- Volume
- 13
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 120-123
- ISSN
- 0963-7214 (ISSN-L)
- 1467-8721
- OpenAlex
- W4233549127
- Cited by
- 405
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 19 · 2025: 14 · 2024: 37 · 2023: 15 · 2022: 22 · 2021: 34 · 2020: 26 · 2019: 35 · 2018: 24 · 2017: 16 · 2016: 23 · 2015: 23 · 2014: 19 · 2013: 16 · 2012: 10
- FWCI
- 4.22
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Current Directions in Psychological Science (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Philosophy and Theoretical Science
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Emotions and Moral Behavior
- Keywords
- unconscious emotions, subliminal priming, affective reactions, self-reflection, preference judgments, evolutionary origins of emotion, liking
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