  We provide an agent-based model to explain the emergence of collective
opinions not based on feedback between different opinions, but based on
emotional interactions between agents. The driving variable is the emotional
state of agents, characterized by their valence and their arousal. Both
determine their emotional expression, from which collective emotional
information is generated. This information feeds back on the dynamics of
emotional states and of individual opinions in a non-linear manner. We derive
the critical conditions for emotional interactions to obtain either consensus
or polarization of opinions. Stochastic agent-based simulations and formal
analyses of the model explain our results. Possible ways to validate the model
are discussed.
