tegration while in the following section, we apply this mechanisms to a dis-
cussion of patterns of development and aging.
Two Modes of Processing
The notion that two modes of processing are orchestrated in affect regulation
is congruent with much recent theorizing about the processing of social infor-
mation (e.g., Chaiken & Trope, 1999; Clore & Ortony, 2000; Damasio, 1995;
Epstein & Pacini, 1999; LeDoux, 1996; Schore, 1994; Tucker, 1992) and re-
flects the dual-process framework in cognitive science (Epstein, 1994; Stano-
vich, 1999), which suggests the existence of two different cognitive architec-
tures with different functions and processing characteristics. According to
that theorizing, information is processed in one of two modes. In one of those
modes—the one we refer to as optimization—processing is essentially sche-
matic. Relatively holistic and undifferentiated structures of knowledge are
activated in an all-or-none, highly automatic way that requires relatively low
resources. Processing is tightly integrated into heuristics and inherently tied
to personal meanings and the activation of emotional processes. In contrast, a
second mode—the one we refer to as affect differentiation here—is based on
systematic, effortful processing in which components of a knowledge structure
can be accessed separately through processes of selective facilitation and inhi-
bition, imparting on behavior a higher degree of choice and flexibility. This
mode involves more formal meanings that are elaborated through processes
of differentiation of already existing knowledge through selective facilitation
and inhibition.
The two modes are widely thought to constitute two general ways in which
information can be processed, and this is true of how emotional information
is processed, as well. Because of these general implications, Metcalfe and
Mischel (1999) referred to them as hot and cool systems. In the hot system,
affect optimization, information is tied intimately to personal inner states
such as affect. When this system is activated, information of high survival
value to the self is given priority, ensuring quick action in high emergency sit-
uations. Hence information is, in essence, organized hedonically—that is, pri-
oritized according to a good–bad, pleasure–pain polarity. In contrast, the
cool system involves a process of differentiation by which the automatic acti-
vation of inner states is interrupted and information is processed in terms of
semantic structures, problem solving, systematic appraisal, and delibera-
tion—the evaluation of emotional information at a relatively conceptual and
representational level.
The two modes involve different ways of being activated. Affect optimiza-
tion involves information that already is tightly integrated—whether as a re-
sult of biological predispositions or of experience. Thus it is relatively low in
differentiation. Appraisal of information is relatively implicit and automatic,
- AFFECT OPTIMIZATION AND DIFFERENTIATION 245