Dynamic Integration of Emotion and Cognition: Equilibrium Regulation in Development and Aging

Abstract

In this chapter, we propose an equilibrium theory of emotion-cognition relations spanning the life span from birth to late life. The theory adopts a neo-Piagetian view of emotions as developing from simple automated patterns into more complex characterized structures. More complex cognitive-emotional schemas provide more powerful mechanisms of homeostasis by widening the range of equilibrium and raising thresholds of sustainable tension. In the model, level and range of emotional functioning depend on individual characteristics, such as cognitive and socio-emotional resources, and situational characteristics, such as required effort and emotional activation. Over the life span, complexity of emotion-cognition schemas progress with increasingly effective emotion regulation well into middle and late life. Eventually, however, cognitive-emotional complexity regresses into old age due to biological constraints.

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