DOI: 10.1177/1754073912468167

The appraisal theory formulations posited in this special section consider the appraisal process to afford flexibility to emotional responding by the malleability of how people appraise events. I argue that not only the way in which events are appraised but also the way in which appraisals drive changes in other emotion components is characterized by flexibility across persons and context. Accounting for such flexibility is crucial for the further development of appraisal theories and their application to other domains. Keywords appraisal, context, flexibility, individual differences The contributions to this special section provide a valuable and needed update of contemporary thinking about the role of appraisal in emotion, including several avenues for future research to further position appraisal in its different forms an