Abstract
Zajonc argues affective reactions are often first — preferences and likes/dislikes can occur with minimal prior cognitive encoding, in parallel with rather than purely after judgment.
Zajonc, R. B. (1980). American Psychologist, 35(2), 151–175. DOI
Key findings
- Affect-first cases — Reliable affective discriminations appeared without recognition memory in some paradigms — feeling before full recall.
- Parallel systems — Affect and cognition are partially independent sources of influence, not a single post-cognitive pipeline.
Application
When you catch yourself inventing reasons for a snap verdict, pause on what already fired affectively — see Affect primacy and Nine innate affects.