Emotions and Response in a Contingent World

Abstract

This chapter draws attention to the variation in individual and collective decisions in international politics. It traces the variation to evolutionary psychology, to the neurobiology and psychology of emotions, to group dynamics, and to the broader processes of social identity that are central to the understanding of collective emotion. The chapter also connects emotion more closely to decision-making processes. Finally, it pays special attention to the close connections between evolutionary psychology and processes of decision-making that are informed by pragmatism. These different processes are treated not as alternatives but as sequenced complementarities that are contingent. Just as there is no binary between reason and emotion and no single level of analysis, no one connection between emotion and decision processes can explain the broad range of decisions and action in international politics.