Automatic Constructive Appraisal 1 Running Head: AUTOMATIC CONSTRUCTIVE APPRAISAL Automatic constructive appraisal as a candidate cause of emotion

Critics of appraisal theory have difficulty accepting appraisal (with its constructive flavor) as an automatic process, and hence as a potential cause of most emotions. In response, some appraisal theorists have argued that appraisal was never meant as a causal process but as a constituent of emotional experience. Others have argued that appraisal is a causal process, but that it can be either rule-based or associative, and that the associative variant can be automatic. I first propose investigating empirically whether rule-based appraisal can also be automatic. I then propose investigating the automatic nature of constructive (instead of rule-based) appraisal because the distinction between rule-based and associative is problematic. Finally, I discuss experiments that support the view that constructive appraisal can be automatic.