2/3

EMOTION
AND
DECISION MAKING

 Imagine that the U.S. is preparing for the outbreak of an unusual Asian

disease, which is expected to kill 600 people. Two alternative programs

to combat the disease have been proposed. Assume the exact
scientific estimate of the consequences of the programs are as follows:
Program A

Odd Birthday

Even Birthday

200 people will be saved

400 people will die

1/3 probability that 600 people 1/3 probability that nobody will
Program B will be saved; 2/3 probability that
die; 2/3 probability that 600
nobody will be saved
people will die

N E G AT I V I T Y B I A S
Imagine that the U.S. is preparing for the outbreak of an unusual Asian

disease, which is expected to kill 600 people. Two alternative programs

to combat the disease have been proposed. Assume the exact
scientific estimate of the consequences of the programs are as follows:
Program A

Odd Birthday

Even Birthday

200 people will be saved

400 people will die

1/3 probability that 600 people 1/3 probability that nobody will
Program B will be saved; 2/3 probability that
die; 2/3 probability that 600
nobody will be saved
people will die

Tend to dislike gamble on left and like gamble on right

Losses loom larger than gains (or loss aversion)
More concerned with preventing losses than obtaining

W H AT I S E M O T I O N ?

IN GROUPS
Definition and components?
Measurement?
Purpose?

W H AT I S E M O T I O N ( F O R ) ?
Much debate, but reasonable consensus on:
Physiology and phenomenological affective experience
Emotion feels like something particular

Appraisal
What emotion seems relevant here?

Action tendency
Motivate us to respond in different ways
Fear (fight or flight); Anger (restore justice); embarrassment (withdrawal)

Emotion is for doing and for communicating

COMPONENTS
I feel angry
Feelings

Its your
fault
Appraisal

Physiology

Motor
expression

Action
tendencies

GROUPS OF EMOTIONS

Positive vs. negative emotions

Negative
Fear, anger

Approach vs. avoidance emotions

Avoidance
Fear, shame

Positive
Happiness, pride
Approach
Happiness, anger

Moral emotions (vs. basic emotions):

Prosocial action tendencies (Haidt, 2003): motivate action that benefits others
Shame, guilt, anger, compassion (vs. fear, surprise)

MEASUREMENT
Self-report

Most common method

Advantages: self-insight; specificity; convenience

Disadvantages: conscious awareness; strategic responding

Physiology

fMRI, EEG, heart rate, skin conductance, pupil dilation, voice

Advantages: Objectivity
Disadvantages: Data acquisition and processing; lack of specificity

Systematic Coding (e.g., FACS)

Trained coders apply coding scheme

Advantages: Objectivity; reliability
Disadvantages: Time intensive

F E E L I N G - A S - I N F O R M AT I O N M O D E L
SCHWARZ & CLORE (1983)
Positive and negative affect influences unrelated judgments
Higher life satisfaction on sunny day, unless asked about weather first
Affect influences unrelated judgments, esp. when not easily

attributable to something else

Negative affect: Theres a problem! Find the problem!

Analytic processing
Positive affect: Things are good! carry-on or try new things
Heuristic processing, inclusive thinking, creative thinking
Fredrickson (1998): Broaden and Build hypothesis

ESP ASSIGNMENT (DUE FRI 2/20)

Critical analysis of two recent and related empirical articles on topic of your choice
Recent = 2010 or more recent
Related = one article cited by other
Empirical = presents new data (not a theoretical or review article)
At least one article from: Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Journal of

Personality and Social Psychology, Social Psychological and Personality Science,

Psychological Science, or Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
Library > Databases > PsycINFO
Library > Journals > [journal name]
Google Scholar
Small amount of summary
Mostly critique and extension

DOES EMOTION IMPROVE DECISIONS?

BECHARA ET AL. (1997)

Participants can select from 4 decks of cards

2 bad decks some big wins, but mostly losses. Over time, NET LOSS

2 good decks moderate wins and losses. Over time, NET GAIN

Control group vs. patients w/ VMPFC (ventromedial pre-

frontal cortex) damage

VMPFC: critical emotion and decision making region of brain

e.g., in hypothetical dilemmas, no aversion to pushing one person into

harms way to save five

DOES EMOTION IMPROVE DECISIONS?

BECHARA ET AL. (1997)

Controls:
greater SCR
when picking
from bad
decks
even before
they explicitly
know the
decks are
bad.

VMPFC patients
dont get a
bad feeling
and they keep
picking from
bad decks
even when
they know
which are good
and bad.

And they also start picking from

the good decks before they
can explain whats going on.

 IN GROUPS
Questions about articles? (what was done, why, what is meant by X, etc.)
One-sentence summary of each article (wow, thats tough!)
Why useful to study adults and children?
What is likely innate and what is likely learned?
How/why do anger/fear influence risk perception and policy preferences?
Implications of Lerner et al. for news, politics?
Is emotion needed for good decision making? Is it ever detrimental?
Why does more conscious thought make us less happy with our decisions?
How can we improve our own decision making?

I N N AT E F E A R ?
RAKISH & DERRINGER (2007)

5 month old

infants look longer

at schematic than
scrambled spiders
Not true for

flowers

BASIC EMOTIONS
Paul Ekmans seminal studies
Six basic emotion expressions

recognized well across cultures

Anger, fear, disgust surprise,

happiness, sadness

Systematic confusions
Anger-disgust
Fear-surprise

More recent studies

Contempt, pride, shame, embarrassment

FA C I A L A C T I O N C O D I N G S Y S T E M
(FACS, Ekman, Friesen, & Hager, 2002)
Non-Duchenne
(fake) smile

Duchenne
(real) smile

EMOTION IN BLIND INDIVIDUALS

M AT S U M O T O & W I L L I N G H A M ( 2 0 0 9 )