Reason, Passion, & Social CognitionWeek 7, Part 2 Agenda for March 2 Agenda for today Continue Overview of Emotion and Decision Making Presentation: Elissa, Ada, Laine

Reason, Passion, & Social CognitionWeek 7, Part 2 New Approaches to Emotion & Decision Making Three types of emotional inputs to decision making 1. Expected Emotions: (def.) “What I expect to feel in the future in connection with a particular decision outcome.” Two factors determine expected emotions: (a) likelihood of outcomes & (b) utility of outcomes Example: feelings one might feel after moving savings to a risky investment fund

Reason, Passion, & Social CognitionWeek 7, Part 2 Second Type of Emotional Inputs to Decision Making 2. Anticipatory (Integral) Emotions (def.) “What I feel right now as a result of contemplating the decision itself.” Example: Anxiety as “moment of truth approaches”

Reason, Passion, & Social CognitionWeek 7, Part 2 Sources of Anticipatory Emotion Vivid Mental Images Images are discrete, not much affected by probabilities Example: mental image of what it would be like to experience a shock is the same regardless of whether there is a one in ten chance of receiving a shock or a one in ten-thousand chance of a shock. Physiological research on anticipation of shocks reveals that anticipation of a shock is sufficient to arouse participants, but the likelihood of being shocked has little impact on arousal level. Other Sources?

Reason, Passion, & Social CognitionWeek 7, Part 2 Third Type of Emotional Inputs to Decision Making 3. Incidental Emotions (def.) “What I happen to feel right now, which does not arise from the decision itself.” Example: good mood due to nice weather Note: usually decision makers are not aware of their incidental affect

Reason, Passion, & Social CognitionWeek 7, Part 2 Sources of Incidental Emotions Weather Crowding Scents Traits Visual Images Health Others?

Reason, Passion, & Social CognitionWeek 7, Part 2 What Kind of Influence do Incidental Emotions Have? Process Effects Emotions can affect depth of processing Content Effects Valence effects Emotion-specific effects

Reason, Passion, & Social CognitionWeek 7, Part 2 Under What Conditions to Incidental Emotions Affect Decision Making ? Next class