Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Effect of Emotion in Information Processing for Decision-Making

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Emotion and Information Processing

  • 861 Accesses

Abstract

Decision-making is a process of selection among other options and a problem-solving activity. This is a cognitive process which is influenced by cognitive skills, the psychological makeup of the decision-maker and the situation itself. The deliberation and selection of the final decision go through certain information processing. This chapter discusses the effect of emotion in information processing for decision-making. The influence of emotion has been recognized as the motivational process and input information in decision-making. The types of emotions and influence, the categorical dimensional model of emotion and dual processing in the emotional state are discussed in detail with an understanding of an advantageous or disadvantageous role played by emotion in decision-making. The effect of emotional state on risk perception and judgement and the possibility of gender difference in information processing are integrated into different sections. This chapter also attempts to address relevant neuroscientific research finding related to information processing in decision-making.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Ambady, N., & Gray, H. M. (2002). On being sad and mistaken: Mood effects on the accuracy of thin-slice judgments. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83(4), 947.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Andersen, J. A. (2000). Intuition in managers. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 15(1), 46–63.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Averill, J. R. (1975). A semantic atlas of emotional concepts (American Psychological Association, Journal Supplement Abstract Service). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bechara, A. (2005). Decision making, impulse control and loss of willpower to resist drugs: A neurocognitive perspective. Nature Neuroscience, 8(11), 1458–1463.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bechara, A., Tranel, D., Damasio, H., & Damasio, A. R. (1996). Failure to respond autonomically to anticipated future outcomes following damage to prefrontal cortex. Cerebral Cortex, 6(2), 215–225.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Biele, C., & Grabowska, A. (2006). Sex differences in perception of emotion intensity in dynamic and static facial expressions. Experimental Brain Research, 171(1), 1–6.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bless, H., Bohner, G., Schwarz, N., & Strack, F. (1990). Mood and persuasion: A cognitive response analysis. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 16, 331–345.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bolla, K. I., Eldreth, D. A., Matochik, J. A., & Cadet, J. L. (2004). Sex-related differences in a gambling task and its neurological correlates. Cerebral Cortex, 14(11), 1226–1232.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bower, G. H. (1981). Mood and memory. American Psychologist, 36(2), 129.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bower, G. H. (1987). Commentary on mood and memory. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 25(6), 443–455.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bower, G. H., Monteiro, K. P., & Gilligan, S. G. (1978). Emotional mood as a context for learning and recall. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 17(5), 573–585.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bröder, A. (2003). Decision making with the “adaptive toolbox”: Influence of environmental structure, intelligence, and working memory load. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 29(4), 611–625.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bruine de Bruin, W., Parker, A. M., & Fischhoff, B. (2007). Individual differences in adult decision-making competence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92(5), 938.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Butler, T., Pan, H., Epstein, J., Protopopescu, X., Tuescher, O., Goldstein, M., … Ledoux, J. (2005). Fear-related activity in subgenual anterior cingulate differs between men and women. Neuroreport, 16(11), 1233–1236.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cahill, L., & McGaugh, J. L. (1998). Mechanisms of emotional arousal and lasting declarative memory. Trends in Neurosciences, 21(7), 294–299. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9683321/

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carpenter, S. K., & DeLosh, E. (2005). Application of the testing and spacing effects to name learning. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 19(5), 619–636. https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.1101

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chaiken, S. (1980). Heuristic versus systematic information processing and the use of source versus message cues in persuasion. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 39(5), 752–766.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen, S., Duckworth, K., & Chaiken, S. (1999). Motivated heuristic and systematic processing. Psychological Inquiry, 10(1), 44–49.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark, M. S., & Isen, A. M. (1982). Toward understanding the relationship between feeling states and social behavior. Cognitive Social Psychology, 73, 108.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clore, G. L., & Huntsinger, J. R. (2007). How emotions inform judgment and regulate thought. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 11(9), 393–399.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clore, G. L., & Martin, L. L. (2001). Theories of mood and cognition: A user’s guidebook. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clore, G. L., & Storbeck, J. (2006). Affect as information about liking, efficacy, and importance. East Sussex, England: Psychology Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crone, E. A., Bunge, S. A., Latenstein, H., & van der Molen, M. W. (2005). Characterization of children’s decision making: sensitivity to punishment frequency, not task complexity. Child Neuropsychology, 11(3), 245–263.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dalal, R. S., & Brooks, M. E. (2013). Individual differences in decision-making skill and style. In Judgment and decision making at work (pp. 100–121). Abingdon, UK: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Damasio, A. R. (1994). Descartes error: Emotion, reason and the human brain (pp. 350–412). New York, NY: Avon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Damasio, A. R. (1996). The somatic marker hypothesis and the possible functions of the prefrontal cortex. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences, 351(1346), 1413–1420.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Damasio, A. R., Tranel, D., & Damasio, H. C. (1991). Somatic markers and the guidance of Behavior: Theory and preliminary testing. In H. S. Levin, H. M. Eisenberg, & A. L. Benton (Eds.), Frontal lobe function and dysfunction (pp. 217–229). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Denes-Raj, V., & Epstein, S. (1994). Conflict between intuitive and rational processing: When people behave against their better judgment. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 66(5), 819.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dolan, R. J. (2002). Emotion, cognition, and behavior. Science, 298(5596), 1191–1194.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Driver, M. J. (1979). Individual decision-making and creativity. In S. Kerr (Ed.), Organizational behavior. Columbus, OH: Grid Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Duncan, W. J. (1973). Decision making and social issues: A guide to administrative action in an environmental context. Hinsdale, IL: Dryden Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Edwards, J. A., & Weary, G. (1993). Depression and the impression-formation continuum: Piecemeal processing despite the availability of category information. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 64(4), 636.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ekman, P. (1984). Expression and the nature of emotion. Approaches to Emotion, 3(19), 344.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ekman, P. (1992). An argument for basic emotions. Cognition & Emotion, 6(3–4), 169–200.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Epstein, S. (1994). Integration of the cognitive and the psychodynamic unconscious. American Psychologist, 49(8), 709.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Epstein, S., Pacini, R., Denes-Raj, V., & Heier, H. (1996). Individual differences in intuitive–experiential and analytical–rational thinking styles. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71(2), 390.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Forgas, J. P., Bower, G. H., & Moylan, S. J. (1990). Praise or blame? Affective influences on attributions for achievement. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59(4), 809.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Freud, S. (1920/1952). A general introduction to psychoanalysis. New York, NY: Washington Square Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Frijda, N. H. (1986). The emotions. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gasper, K. (2004). Do you see what I see? Affect and visual information processing. Cognition and Emotion, 18(3), 405–421.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gleicher, F., & Weary, G. (1991). Effect of depression on quantity and quality of social inferences. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 61(1), 105.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hamann, S. (2001). Cognitive and neural mechanisms of emotional memory. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 5(9), 394–400. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/11824502_Cognitive_and_neural_mechanisms_of_emotional_memory

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hammond, K. R. (1996). Human judgment and social policy: Irreducible uncertainty, inevitable error, unavoidable injustice. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hampson, E., van Anders, S. M., & Mullin, L. I. (2006). A female advantage in the recognition of emotional facial expressions: Test of an evolutionary hypothesis. Evolution and Human Behavior, 27(6), 401–416.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hanoch, Y. (2002). “Neither an angel nor an ant”: Emotion as an aid to bounded rationality. Journal of Economic Psychology, 23(1), 1–25.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harren, V. A. (1979). Research with the assessment of career decision making. Character Potential: A Record of Research, 9(2), 63–69.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hilbig, B. E. (2008). Individual differences in fast-and-frugal decision making: Neuroticism and the recognition heuristic. Journal of Research in Personality, 42(6), 1641–1645.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hogarth, R. M. (2001). Educating intuition. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hogarth, R. M., & Karelaia, N. (2006). “Take-the-best” and other simple strategies: Why and when they work “well” with binary cues. Theory and Decision, 61(3), 205–249.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Isen, A. M. (1987). Positive affect, cognitive processes, and social behavior. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 20, pp. 203–253). New York, NY: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Isen, A. M. (1999). On the relationship between affect and creative problem solving. Affect, Creative Experience, and Psychological Adjustment, 3, 17.

    Google Scholar 

  • Izard, C. E. (1971). The face of emotion. New York, NY: Appleton century –Crofts.

    Google Scholar 

  • Izard, C. E. (1977). Human emotions. New York, NY: Plenum.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • James, W. (1907/1995). Pragmatism. New York, NY: Dover Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • James, W. (1909/2002). The meaning of truth. New York, NY: Dover Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kahneman, D., & Frederick, S. (2002). Representativeness revisited: Attribute substitution in intuitive judgment. Heuristics and Biases: The Psychology of Intuitive Judgment, 49, 81.

    Google Scholar 

  • Keltner, D., & Lerner, J. S. (2010). Emotion. In D. T. Gilbert, S. T. Fiske, & G. Lindzey (Eds.), The handbook of social psychology (pp. 317–352). New York, NY: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kirkpatrick, L. A., & Epstein, S. (1992). Cognitive-experiential self-theory and subjective probability: Further evidence for two conceptual systems. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 63(4), 534.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Knyazev, G. G., Slobodskoj-Plusnin, J. Y., & Bocharov, A. V. (2010). Gender differences in implicit and explicit processing of emotional facial expressions as revealed by event-related theta synchronization. Emotion, 10(5), 678.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kozhevnikov, M. (2007). Cognitive styles in the context of modern psychology: Toward an integrated framework of cognitive style. Psychological Bulletin, 133(3), 464.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kuhl, J. (2000). A functional-design approach to motivation and self-regulation: The dynamics of personality systems interactions. In M. Boekaerts, P. R. Pintrich, & M. Zeidner (Eds.), Handbook of self-regulation (pp. 111–169). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Lerner, J. S., Gonzalez, R. M., Small, D. A., & Fischhoff, B. (2003). Effects of fear and anger on perceived risks of terrorism: A national field experiment. Psychological Science, 14(2), 144–150.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lerner, J. S., & Keltner, D. (2001). Fear, anger, and risk. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81(1), 146–159.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lerner, J. S., Li, Y., Valdesolo, P., & Kassam, K. S. (2015). Emotion and decision making. Annual Review of Psychology, 66, 799–823.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lerner, J. S., & Tiedens, L. Z. (2006). Portrait of the angry decision maker: How appraisal tendencies shape anger’s influence on cognition. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 19(2), 115–137.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leutner, D. (2014). Motivation and emotion as mediators in multimedia learning. Learning and Instruction, 29, 174–175. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259137983_Motivation_and_emotion_as_mediators_in_multimedia_learning

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lighthall, N. R., Mather, M., & Gorlick, M. A. (2009). Acute stress increases sex differences in risk seeking in the balloon analogue risk task. PLoS One, 4(7).

    Google Scholar 

  • Lighthall, N. R., Sakaki, M., Vasunilashorn, S., Nga, L., Somayajula, S., Chen, E. Y., … Mather, M. (2012). Gender differences in reward-related decision processing under stress. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 7(4), 476–484.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mackie, D. M., & Worth, L. T. (1989). Processing deficits and the mediation of positive affect in persuasion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57(1), 27.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mak, A. K., Hu, Z. G., Zhang, J. X., Xiao, Z., & Lee, T. M. (2009). Sex-related differences in neural activity during emotion regulation. Neuropsychologia, 47(13), 2900–2908.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Malone, T. W. (1981). Toward a theory of intrinsically motivating instruction. Cognitive Science, 5(4), 333–369. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0364-0213(81)80017-1

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mohanty, S. N., & Suar, D. (2013). Influence of mood states, group discussion, and interpersonal comparison on change in decision-making and information processing. International Journal of Decision Science, Risk and Management, 5(2), 101–123.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mohanty, S. N., & Suar, D. (2014). Decision making under uncertainty and information processing in positive and negative mood states. Psychological Reports, 115(1), 91–105.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nelissen, R. M., Dijker, A. J., & de Vries, N. K. (2007). Emotions and goals: Assessing relations between values and emotions. Cognition and Emotion, 21(4), 902–911.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Newell, B. R., Weston, N. J., & Shanks, D. R. (2003). Empirical tests of a fast-and-frugal heuristic: Not everyone “takes-the-best”. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 91(1), 82–96.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Newman, J. W. (1971). Management applications of decision theory. New York, NY: Harper and Row.

    Google Scholar 

  • Niedenthal, P. M., & Setterlund, M. B. (1994). Emotion congruence in perception. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 20(4), 401–411.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Osgood, C. E., Suci, G. J., & Tannenbaum, P. H. (1957). The measurement of meaning. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Overman, W. H., Frassrand, K., Ansel, S., Trawalter, S., Bies, B., & Redmond, A. (2004). Performance on the IOWA card task by adolescents and adults. Neuropsychologia, 42(13), 1838–1851.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pacini, R., & Epstein, S. (1999). The relation of rational and experiential information processing styles to personality, basic beliefs, and the ratio-bias phenomenon. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76(6), 972.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Parker, A. M., & Fischhoff, B. (2005). Decision-making competence: External validation through an individual-differences approach. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 18(1), 1–27.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Qlueck, W. F. (1977). Management. Hinsdale, IL: Dryden Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reavis, R., & Overman, W. H. (2001). Adult sex differences on a decision-making task previously shown to depend on the orbital prefrontal cortex. Behavioral Neuroscience, 115(1), 196.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Russell, J. A. (1980). A circumplex model of affect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 39(6), 1161.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shiv, B., Loewenstein, G., & Bechara, A. (2005). The dark side of emotion in decision-making: When individuals with decreased emotional reactions make more advantageous decisions. Cognitive Brain Research, 23(1), 85–92.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Simon, H. A. (1967). Motivational and emotional controls of cognition. Psychological Review, 74(1), 29.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Simon, H. A. (1983). Reason in human affairs. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Simon, H. A. (1993). Decision making: Rational, nonrational and irrational. Educational Administrative Quarterly, 29(3), 392–411.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sloman, S. A. (1996). The empirical case for two systems of reasoning. Psychological Bulletin, 119(1), 3.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Slovic, P., & Peters, E. (2006). Risk perception and affect. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 15(6), 322–325.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Small, D. A., & Lerner, J. S. (2008). Emotional policy: Personal sadness and anger shape judgments about a welfare case. Political Psychology, 29(2), 149–168.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Starcke, K., Wolf, O. T., Markowitsch, H. J., & Brand, M. (2008). Anticipatory stress influences decision making under explicit risk conditions. Behavioral Neuroscience, 122(6), 1352.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thunholm, P. (2004). Decision-making style: Habit, style or both? Personality and Individual Differences, 36(4), 931–944.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tiedens, L. Z., & Linton, S. (2001). Judgment under emotional certainty and uncertainty: the effects of specific emotions on information processing. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81(6), 973.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Kleef, G. A., De Dreu, C. K., & Manstead, A. S. (2010). An interpersonal approach to emotion in social decision making: The emotions as social information model. In Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 42, pp. 45–96). New York, NY: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weary, G. (1990). Depression and sensitivity to social information. In A. M. Isen & B. S. Moore (Eds.), Affect and social behavior (pp. 207–230). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weary, G., & Jacobson, J. A. (1997). Causal uncertainty beliefs and diagnostic information seeking. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73(4), 839.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weller, J. A., Levin, I. P., & Bechara, A. (2010). Do individual differences in Iowa Gambling Task performance predict adaptive decision making for risky gains and losses? Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 32(2), 141–150.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilson, T. D., & Schooler, J. W. (1991). Thinking too much: Introspection can reduce the quality of preferences and decisions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60(2), 181.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wundt, W. M. (1897). Outlines of psychology. In Classics in the history of psychology. http://psychclassics.asu.edu/index.htmArchived 2001-02-24 at the Wayback Machine, York University 2010, Toronto.

  • Xiong, G., Liu, Y., & Liu, X. (2014). The meta-analysis on the effect of emotion on rational person behavior in the decision neuroscience perspective. The Open Cybernetics &Systemics Journal, 8(1), 1123–1128.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yip, J. A., & Côté, S. (2013). The emotionally intelligent decision maker: Emotion-understanding ability reduces the effect of incidental anxiety on risk taking. Psychological Science, 24(1), 48–55.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zajonc, R. B. (1980). Feeling and thinking: Preferences need no inferences. American Psychologist, 35(2), 151.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zeelenberg, M., Nelissen, R. M., Breugelmans, S. M., & Pieters, R. (2008). On emotion specificity in decision making: Why feeling is for doing. Judgment and Decision making, 3(1), 18.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zeelenberg, M., & Pieters, R. (1999). Comparing service delivery to what might have been: Behavioral responses to regret and disappointment. Journal of Service Research, 2(1), 86–97.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zeelenberg, M., & Pieters, R. (2004). Beyond valence in customer dissatisfaction: A review and new findings on behavioral responses to regret and disappointment in failed services. Journal of Business Research, 57(4), 445–455.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zeelenberg, M., & Pieters, R. (2006). Feeling is for doing: A pragmatic approach to the study of emotions in economic behavior. In D. De Cremer, M. Zeelenberg, & J. K. Murnighan (Eds.), Social psychology and economics (pp. 117–137). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Kharagpur, India

    Smriti Pathak & Kailash B. L. Srivastava

Authors
  1. Smriti Pathak
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Kailash B. L. Srivastava
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science & Engineering, ICFAI Foundation for Higher Education, Hyderabad, India

    Sachi Nandan Mohanty

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Pathak, S., Srivastava, K.B.L. (2020). Effect of Emotion in Information Processing for Decision-Making. In: Mohanty, S.N. (eds) Emotion and Information Processing. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-48849-9_1

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation