"At every moment, there is something a person/animal is trying to do (a goal) and a reason they are trying to do it (a context for that goal). In the Affect Management Framework (AMF; Haynes-LaMotte, 2025), contextualized goals are constantly shifting in the brain, informed by the senses of the world and the body ( vision, hearing, touch, taste, smell, interoception, and proprioception) as well as the semantic factors of meaningfulness, certainty, and agency."
"The impact of goals on affective experience is highly contextual, and the meaningfulness of the goal is one factor that influences this relationship. It can most simply be described with the questions: "How important is this goal and why? What will happen or what will it mean if it is or is not completed?" The answers to these questions are variable across people and contexts, but generally determine how strongly affect is attached to the goal, and consequently, how motivated someone is to pursue it."
Affective experience attaches to current goals, and contextual factors determine goal selection and pursuit. The Affect Management Framework (AMF) proposes that contextualized goals constantly shift, informed by sensory inputs (vision, hearing, touch, taste, smell, interoception, proprioception) and semantic factors like meaningfulness, certainty, and agency. Meaningfulness modulates how strongly affect is bound to a goal, shaping motivation and decisions to pursue or relinquish goals. Meaningfulness arises from personal values, perceived challenge, or opposition to external obstacles. Greater meaningfulness increases willingness to endure interoceptive pain. Beliefs and affective tendencies influence information seeking and belief formation, biasing toward desirable information and affecting goal-related affect.
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