Thinking/feeling about social and personal relationships

Traditionally it has been assumed that cognition and emotion are separate and competing forces, with cognition representing rationality and emotion representing irrationality. However, recent theoretical and empirical work has demonstrated the symbiotic nature of the relationship between these complementary ways of apprehending and understanding the world. In this review, we discuss the functionality and logic of emotions and their impact on perception, cognition, and memory in social and personal relationships. Theory and research on the nature and development of emotion knowledge structures and emotional intelligence in relationships is also discussed, along with a consideration of cross-cultural differences in people's understandings about the nature of, and relationship between, thinking and feeling. The article closes with a call for a more integrated understanding of and feeling for the dynamics of social and personal relationships.