The enduring impact of transient emotions on decision making

Abstract

People often do not realize they are being influenced by an incidental emotional state. As a result, decisions based on a fleeting incidental emotion can become the basis for future decisions and hence outlive the original cause for the behavior (i.e., the emotion itself). Using a sequence of ultimatum and dictator games, we provide empirical evidence for the enduring impact of transient emotions on economic decision making. Behavioral consistency and false consensus are presented as potential underlying processes. Enduring Impact of Emotions on DM 3 The Enduring Impact of Transient EmotionsThe impact of incidental emotions on decision-making is well established (Vohs, Baumeister, & Loewenstein 2007). Incidental emotions (i.e., unrelated to the target object) have been shown to influence how much people eat (Grunberg & Straub, 1992), help (Manucia, Baumann, & Cialdini, 1984), trust (Dunn & Schweitzer 2005), procrastinate (Tice, Bratlavstky, & Baumesiter, 2001), or price different products (Lerner, Small, & Loewenstein 2004). Based on all of this evidence, it is tempting to suggest that incidental emotions represent an omnipresent influence in our mundane decision making processes. Skeptical critics, however, might wonder how pervasive the impact of emotion actually is. Most of the emotional changes experienced in our daily lives are relatively mild and short-lived. Even when a strong emotion is experienced, its intensity tends to fade away in a matter of seconds or, at most, minutes (Ekman 1999). Although we may happen to grieve for days after a sudden loss, we more often get mildly disappointed after a tasteless meal or temporarily upbeat after a comedy show. It seems logical then to suggest that the impact of emotions on decision making should also be brief. Put simply, as the emotional state rapidly recedes to the background, so should its impact on decision-making.In contrast to this view, this paper shows that the influence of mild incidental emotions on decision making can live longer than the emotional experience itself. Given that people often do not realize they are being influenced by the incidental emotional state, decisions based on a fleeting incidental emotion can become the basis for future decisions and hence outlive the original cause for the behavior (i.e., the emotion itself). Theoretical Background Enduring Impact of Emotions on DM 4The emotion literature has traditionally worked under the assumption that the intensity of a given feeling state fades away rather quickly, along with its impact on behavior (for a definitional note on emotion, see Appendix 1). Support for short-lived impact of emotions is demonstrated in a field study conducted by Isen and colleagues. The authors showed that after a positive mood manipulation made door to door (a free gift), individuals were more willing to help in a subsequent request over the phone relative to the control condition. However, the effect declined as time elapsed between the free gift (mood manipulation) and the phone request (dependent ...

Emotion and reason in everyday risk perception

“…This is an important topic for future research since, based on experimental evidence, moods can affect decisions (Isen, 1993;Slovic et al, 2002;Andrade & Ariely, 2009). Moreover, in an ingenious field study of university admissions staff, Simonsohn (2007) found that decisions reflected mood changes that could be attributed to fluctuations in weather patterns.…”

“…Rottenstreich and Hsee (2001), for example, showed that when outcomes of uncertain actions involve strong affect (positive or negative), reactions are relatively insensitive to large variations in the probability of the outcomes occurring (see also Hsee & Kunreuther, 2000;Slovic et al, 2002;Sunstein, 2003). Interestingly, Andrade and Ariely (2009) find that decisions based on fleeting incidental emotions can also affect future decisions even after the initial emotion has subsided.…”

Like ripples on a pond: Behavioral spillovers and their implications for research and policy

“…Carryover effects of emotions and self-herding suggest that incidental emotions not only directly affect decisions at an unconscious level, but also indirectly spillover on other subsequent choices and actions taking place long after the initial emotional experience (Harlé & Sanfey, 2007;Lerner, Small, & Loewenstein, 2004). This is because, when we look back to our initial behavior, we tend to misattribute it to some of our deep preferences rather than to a fleeting emotion, and we choose our subsequent actions to follow suit the same inferred path (Andrade & Ariely, 2009). For instance, subjects who first watched a video that induced anger were not only more likely to reject unfair offers in a following, unrelated, ultimatum game than subjects who watched a happy video; but also made fairer offers to their partners in a subsequent dictator game, and even in a second ultimatum game where they acted as proposers (Andrade & Ariely, 2009).…”

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