Primary Appraisal is Affective not Cognitive: Exploring a Revised Transactional Model of Stress and Coping

In the Transactional Model of Stress and Coping, primary appraisal of stress is considered a cognitive process. Current neuroscience research indicates, however, that our initial awareness of whether something is good, bad, or neutral, is a predominantly affective process, with our core affect being a representation of how the body evaluates life situations over time. We concur with what is now the prevailing view that dualistic theories of mind and body as essentially separate entities are mistaken and have contributed to problematic conceptions of cognition and affect as radically independent operations, one being performed by the mind, the other by the body. In reality, affect and cognition are both bodily processes, and as such are inseparable and interdependent. Affect provides the primary appraisal of the body’s current situation, while cognition builds off the affective response, providing a secondary and often more thorough appraisal. We therefore propose a revised, non-dualistic Transactional Model emphasizing the embodied mind in which our core affect provides the foundation for our primary appraisals and a stronger foundation for conducting psychotherapy.