Revisiting the past and back to the future: Horizons of cognition and emotion research

The effect of emotional intelligence on unsafe behavior of miners: the role of emotional labor strategies and perceived organizational support

The primary purpose of this study is to explore the mechanism of the four dimensions of miners' emotional intelligence (self-emotion perception, emotion application, emotion regulation, other-emotion perception) on unsafe behavior through a questionnaire survey of three state-owned coal mines in Shanxi, Shaanxi and Sichuan. Nearly 300 miners participated in the survey, and the response rate reached 83.3%. The study also examined the possible effects of miners' emotional labor strategies and perceived organizational support on unsafe behavior. The reliability and effectiveness of all measuring instruments are considered acceptable. The results show that emotional labor strategy plays an intermediary role in the relationship between emotional intelligence and unsafe behavior. Perceived organizational support plays a regulatory role in the relationship between emotional labor strategy and unsafe behavior.

Having no words for feelings: alexithymia as a fundamental personality dimension at the interface of cognition and emotion

This special issue brings together two important reviews and seven cutting-edge empirical papers concerning the influence of alexithymia on cognitive and emotional processing. Alexithymia is a multifaceted construct that is characterised by difficulties identifying one's feelings; difficulties describing one's feelings to others; and an externally focused, utilitarian cognitive style. In this paper, we begin by considering how emotion science has evolved in its understanding of personality traits, before highlighting the potential importance of alexithymia research for the field of cognition and emotion. After summarising the historical context of alexithymia research, we consider the contributions of the featured papers to the literature of cognition and emotion. The collected works highlight that alexithymia influences several aspects of how one perceives and responds to neutral and emotional situations, by impacting upon multiple processes (attention, appraisals, memory, language and behaviour), showing the importance of drawing better connections amongst multiple processes, toward disentangling the effects of early processes on later ones. A lack of correspondence between processes, as well as amongst alexithymia facets, is another central finding of the special issue. This pattern is thought to lead to ineffective and inflexible emotion regulation and to pose significant risks for physical and mental illness.

Rethinking emotion science: new theory section for Cognition & Emotion

A cumulative emotion science requires sustained investments in theory development. To encourage such investments, a new section will be added to Cognition & Emotion that is specifically devoted to theory. In this Editorial, we first lay out the rationale for the new Theory section. Next, we consider the added value of theory for research on cognition and emotion. Building on these notions, we outline the kinds of articles that are to be published in the new Theory section, with Klaus Scherer being the inaugural Editor of the Theory section.