Coding of Emotions and Logic When Making Decisions

Presenter Information

Cassie Nieman, Minnesota State University, Mankato
Emily Jax, Minnesota State University, Mankato

Location

CSU Ballroom

Start Date

21-4-2008 10:00 AM

End Date

21-4-2008 12:00 PM

Student's Major

Psychology

Student's College

Social and Behavioral Sciences

Mentor's Name

Emily Stark

Mentor's Department

Psychology

Mentor's College

Social and Behavioral Sciences

Description

Emotional responses can help determine the ways in which individuals make decisions. Previous research has been done on the emotional response to specific topic discussions presented to a group of women who had been diagnosed with metastic breast cancer. The goal of the cancer study was to examine the effect of changes in emotional well-being on women's behaviors. In the current study, we examined how emotional response to a situation influences the decisions people make. We presented 70 people with a decision scenario and had them record up to 7 thoughts and feelings they were experiencing about each option before asking them to choose an option. We coded their thought listings for mention of various emotions or mention of logical reasoning in order to determine the role their emotions played in making their decision. We also examined whether individual differences in use of rational or emotional processing influenced what people wrote in their thought listings. Our poster presents the relations between individual differences, mention of emotion in the thought listings, and participants' choices.