“I Feel Therefore I Decide”: Effect of Negative Emotions on Temporal Discounting and Probability Discounting

Temporal and probability discounting are considered two fundamental constructs in economic science, as they are associated with phenomena with major societal impact and a variety of sub-optimal behaviors and clinical conditions. Although it is well known that positive and negative affective states bear important cognitive/behavioral consequences, the effect of emotional experiences on decision-making remains unclear due to the existence of many conflicting results. Inspired by the need to understand if and to what extent the current COVID-19 pandemic has determined changes in our decision-making processes by means of the unusual, prolonged experience of negative feelings, in this study we investigate the effect of anger, fear, sadness, physical and moral disgust on intertemporal and risky choices. Results show that all emotions significantly increase subjects’ preferences for immediate rewards over delayed ones, and for risky rewards over certain ones, in comparison to a “neutral emotion” condition, although the magnitude of the effect differs across emotions. In particular, we observed a more pronounced effect in the case of sadness and moral disgust. These findings contribute to the literature on emotions and decision-making by offering an alternative explanation to the traditional motivational appraisal theories. Specifically, we propose that the increased preference for immediate gratification and risky outcomes serves as a mechanism of self-reward aimed at down-regulating negative feelings and restore the individual’s “emotional balance”.

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Biases in Affective Forecasting and Recall as a Function of Borderline Personality Disorder Features

Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology ◽

10.1521/jscp.2019.38.3.200 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 38 (3) ◽

pp. 200-223

Author(s):

Christopher D. Hughes ◽

Shireen L. Rizvi

Keyword(s):

Borderline Personality Disorder ◽

Personality Disorder ◽

Emotion Dysregulation ◽

Borderline Personality ◽

Specific Pattern ◽

Affective Forecasting ◽

Affective States ◽

Film Clip ◽

Decision Making Processes ◽

Negative Affective States

Introduction: The ability to predict emotional experiences, “affective forecasting,” is an essential factor in individuals' decision-making processes. Research has shown that, generally, individuals are inaccurate in their affective forecasts/recollections, and that certain psychological disorders may be related to individual differences in these inaccuracies, or biases. Understanding the role of affective biases in disorders characterized by emotion dysregulation, like Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), may provide important information regarding the sources of said dysregulation. The present study aimed to identify specific or unique patterns in affective forecasting/recall biases as a function of BPD features. Method: Using a sample of undergraduates (n = 185), we compared predicted and recalled affective states with actual affect following a sadness-evoking film clip. We predicted that higher levels of BPD features would be associated with greater affective forecasting and recall biases. Results: Results indicated that BPD features predicted a specific pattern of forecasting and recall biases regarding the clip. Counter to our hypotheses, as BPD features increased, forecasts/recollections of their affective states following the sadness-evoking film clip were more accurate (less biased). Discussion: Results indicate that BPD features may be related to a specific pattern of bias with negative affective states and warrant further study. Furthermore, this study provides evidence that disorder-specific patterns of forecasting/recall bias can be studied with a laboratory-based paradigm.

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Decision-Making Processes Underlying Pedestrian Behaviors at Signalized Crossing: Part 1. The First to Step off the Kerb

Safety ◽

10.3390/safety5040079 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 5 (4) ◽

pp. 79 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Pelé ◽

Deneubourg ◽

Sueur

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Cognitive Processes ◽

Risk Taking ◽

Temporal Discounting ◽

Decision Making Process ◽

Risk Sensitivity ◽

The Road ◽

New Concepts ◽

Decision Making Processes ◽

Rule Breaking

Pedestrians are ideal subjects for the study of decision-making, due to the inter-individual variation in risk taking. Many studies have attempted to understand which environmental factors influence the number of times pedestrians broke the rules at road-crossings, very few focused on the decision-making process of pedestrians according to the different conditions of these variables, that is to say their perception and interpretation of the information they receive. We used survival analyses and modeling to highlight the decision-making process of pedestrians crossing the road at signalized crossings in France and in Japan. For the first pedestrians to step off the kerb, we showed that the probability to cross the road follows three different processes: one at the red signal, one just before the pedestrian signal turns green, and one after the signal has turned green. Globally, the decision of the first pedestrian to cross, whether he or she does so at the green or at the red signal, is influenced by their country of residence. We identify the use of cognitive processes such as risk sensitivity and temporal discounting, and propose new concepts based on the results of this study to decrease the incidence of rule-breaking by pedestrians.

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Cognitive Processing of Miscommunication in Interactive Listening: An Evaluation of Listener Indecision and Cognitive Effort

Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research ◽

10.1044/2020_jslhr-20-00128 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-17

Author(s):

Jennifer M. Roche ◽

Arkady Zgonnikov ◽

Laura M. Morett

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Cognitive Processing ◽

Language Processing ◽

Cognitive Effort ◽

Mouse Tracking ◽

Computer Mouse ◽

Decision Making Processes ◽

Computer Mouse Tracking ◽

Listening Task ◽

Processing Effort

Purpose The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the social and cognitive underpinnings of miscommunication during an interactive listening task. Method An eye and computer mouse–tracking visual-world paradigm was used to investigate how a listener's cognitive effort (local and global) and decision-making processes were affected by a speaker's use of ambiguity that led to a miscommunication. Results Experiments 1 and 2 found that an environmental cue that made a miscommunication more or less salient impacted listener language processing effort (eye-tracking). Experiment 2 also indicated that listeners may develop different processing heuristics dependent upon the speaker's use of ambiguity that led to a miscommunication, exerting a significant impact on cognition and decision making. We also found that perspective-taking effort and decision-making complexity metrics (computer mouse tracking) predict language processing effort, indicating that instances of miscommunication produced cognitive consequences of indecision, thinking, and cognitive pull. Conclusion Together, these results indicate that listeners behave both reciprocally and adaptively when miscommunications occur, but the way they respond is largely dependent upon the type of ambiguity and how often it is produced by the speaker.

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“It's Not Humanly Possible to Do Everything”: Perspectives on Intervention Decision-Making Processes of Parents of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Perspectives on Language Learning and Education ◽

10.1044/lle22.1.13 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 22 (1) ◽

pp. 13-21 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Erinn Finke ◽

Kathryn Drager ◽

Elizabeth C. Serpentine

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Individualized Education Program ◽

Children With Autism ◽

Autism Spectrum ◽

Sources Of Information ◽

Individual Decision ◽

Decision Making Processes ◽

Spectrum Disorders ◽

Interview Methodology ◽

Communication Interventions

Purpose The purpose of this investigation was to understand the decision-making processes used by parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) related to communication-based interventions. Method Qualitative interview methodology was used. Data were gathered through interviews. Each parent had a child with ASD who was at least four-years-old; lived with their child with ASD; had a child with ASD without functional speech for communication; and used at least two different communication interventions. Results Parents considered several sources of information for learning about interventions and provided various reasons to initiate and discontinue a communication intervention. Parents also discussed challenges introduced once opinions of the school individualized education program (IEP) team had to be considered. Conclusions Parents of children with ASD primarily use individual decision-making processes to select interventions. This discrepancy speaks to the need for parents and professionals to share a common “language” about interventions and the decision-making process.

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