Emotion Regulation and Decision Making Under Risk and Uncertainty

It is well established that emotion plays a key role in human social and economic decision making. The recent literature on emotion regulation (ER), however, highlights that humans typically make efforts to control emotion experiences. This leaves open the possibility that decision effects previousl...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Emotion (Washington, D.C.) D.C.), 2010-04, Vol.10 (2), p.257-265
Main Authors: Heilman, Renata M, Crişan, Liviu G, Houser, Daniel, Miclea, Mircea, Miu, Andrei C
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biological and medical sciences
Cognitive Processes
Decision Making
Decision Making - physiology
Emotional Control
Emotional Intelligence - physiology
Emotions - physiology
Female
Human
Humans
Male
Medical sciences
Miscellaneous
Psychological Tests
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Risk
Risk Factors
Social psychiatry. Ethnopsychiatry
Uncertainty
Young Adult
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Summary:It is well established that emotion plays a key role in human social and economic decision making. The recent literature on emotion regulation (ER), however, highlights that humans typically make efforts to control emotion experiences. This leaves open the possibility that decision effects previously attributed to acute emotion may be a consequence of acute ER strategies such as cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression. In Study 1, we manipulated ER of laboratory-induced fear and disgust, and found that the cognitive reappraisal of these negative emotions promotes risky decisions (reduces risk aversion) in the Balloon Analogue Risk Task and is associated with increased performance in the prehunch/hunch period of the Iowa Gambling Task. In Study 2, we found that naturally occurring negative emotions also increase risk aversion in Balloon Analogue Risk Task, but the incidental use of cognitive reappraisal of emotions impedes this effect. We offer evidence that the increased effectiveness of cognitive reappraisal in reducing the experience of emotions underlies its beneficial effects on decision making.
ISSN:1528-3542
1931-1516
DOI:10.1037/a0018489