Editorial

In 2007, psychology was officially recognized as a “hub science” in a column by John Cacioppo for the Association for Psychological Science. Eli Finkel and Roy Baumeister, in their introduction to their 2019 edition of their Advanced Social Psychology textbook, noted that research also supported the idea that social psychology was, “in many respects, the scientific hub of psychology.” In our view, motivation—why people influence the world—and emotion—how the world influences people—are, in many ways, the hub of social psychology. That is, the scientific passion of authors of articles for Motivation and Emotion is the hub of the hub of the hub—the center of a network that we believe drives interest in psychology more generally. Motivation and emotion are the answers to the questions, “why?” and “how?”—questions posed by both professional and lay audiences alike. (...)