A place for emotions in behavior systems research

Although issuesof motivation,includingappetitivesearching behavior,have beencrucial aspectsof behavior systemsapproachessincetheirinception,aswellasintheethologicalresearchandmodelsthatinspiredthem, emotions and affect have been noticeably absent in such analyses. Emotions and affect may have been lying belowthesurfaceallthetime,however,asmotivation,emotion,andcognitiveprocessingareembeddedinall aspectsof behavior,includingconditioningandlearning.Hereabrief caseismadethatemotionsandrelated hedonicprocesses,canandshouldbeexplicitlyincorporatedintobehaviorsystemsapproaches.Evidencefrom recent behaviorist, neuroscience, and animal behavior (including human) studies suggest that emotions may, just as motivational drives, lead to appetitive searching and avoidance, both general and focal, as well as consummatoryactswithemotionalconsequencesandsatiation.Researchtestingtheseclaims,aswellastheoreticalformulationsandevaluations,wouldbetimelyandextendthereachofbehaviorsystemsapproachestoa farwiderswathofpsychologicalresearchthanithasengagedwithhitherto.