Two experiments examined the linkages between cognitions and emotions. In the 1st investigation, 79 undergraduates reported a" critical incident," in which they succeeded or failed an exam for a particular reason (eg, help from others, lack of long-term effort). They then recounted 3 affects that were experienced. The data reveal prevalent affects linked with success and failure regardless of the attribution for the outcome. Many emotions identified were associated with specific attributions (eg, luck–surprise; others–gratitude and others–anger); dimensions of causal attributions, such as locus, also influenced recollected feeling states, particularly esteem-related emotions. It is proposed that in achievement-related contexts there are 3 sources of affect elicited by disparate cognitions. The 2nd experiment demonstrated that 48 undergraduates used emotional cues to infer why a success or a failure had occurred. The proposed cognition–emotion and emotion–cognition couplings appeared to be symmetrical.(13 ref)(PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)