How do emotions respond to outcome values and influence choice?

Area of Science:

• Decision Science
• Behavioral Economics
• Psychology

Background:

• Emotions profoundly influence decision-making, as suggested by the risk-as-feelings hypothesis.
• This hypothesis identifies two key emotion types: anticipatory and anticipated emotions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how outcome values affect anticipatory and anticipated emotions.
• To determine if these emotions explain the influence of outcome values on risky choices.

Main Methods:

• Two studies were conducted with a representative US sample.
• Participants made choices in gain and loss domains involving hypothetical and incentivized gambles.
• Emotional responses to varying outcome values were measured.

Main Results:

• Anticipatory and anticipated emotions showed similar responses to changes in value for sure gains.
• Both emotion types explained the impact of value on choices for sure gains and losses.
• Both emotion types mediated framing effects on choices between sure options and gambles.

Conclusions:

• Outcome values influence both anticipatory and anticipated emotions, which in turn affect decision-making.
• Anticipatory emotions mediated a larger portion of the effect compared to anticipated emotions.
• Understanding these emotional dynamics is crucial for explaining risky choice behavior.