The role of evaluation in cognition and social interaction

The general aim of this work is to identify evaluations and values as particular mental attitudes, and to explore their roles within a knowledge representation and goal-pursuing system. We first provide a basic definition of evaluation, and sketch a few types of evaluative processes. Second, we address the complex relationship between evaluation and emotion. Third, we move to the relation between evaluation and action, showing how evaluations are closely linked to goals; in so doing, we address the role played by evaluation in problem solving and decision making. Fourth, we consider the role played by evaluation in social behavior. Fifth, we address the notion of value, analyze its relationship with goals and norms, and try to account for some typical features of values--their being unfalsifiable, indefinite, normative, and terminal.