The classical model of the rational human being is no longer adequate to explain collective sense-making. We argue that social perception is a cognitive-emotional process where affective states and shared representations co-construct each other in a dynamic loop. Through the Social Representations Theory and a mix-method study of French residents during Covid-19, we show emotions are constitutive forces in group understanding.

First, analyses of Facebook comments (N=62,101) reveal synchronized evolution of emotional and representational content. Second, interviews (N=24) demonstrate the central role of emotions in the development of Covid-19 representations, via the influence of cognitive processes mobilised by emotional reactions. The results suggest that the cognitive-emotional processes involved in Covid-19 representations are dynamic and closely linked to individuals’ social affiliations and personal experiences. Last, questionnaires (N=3,820) show distinct emotional experiences predicted specific representation dimensions: anger and disgust predicting conspiracy thinking, while anxiety and compassion predicted health-focused representations.

This work suggests that emotionally-filtered cognitions synchronize into shared affective-cognitive frameworks, creating a dynamic loop between individual emotion and collective knowledge. We establish emotions as fundamental operators in social representational processes.