Deciding Emotions - The Role of Immediate and Anticipated Emotions in Risky Decisions

The work draws attention to emotions and what role they play when deciding to take a risk or not. Therefore it is questioned how emotions attached to the possible consequences of a decision affect behavior. With respect to this question additionally it is verified if such anticipations of emotions are exact or turn out as positive or negative dyed illusions. Leaving behind a consequentialistic tradition of decison-making research the focus then is drawn on how immediate emotions connected to the decision problem itself influence which alternative is chosen � the risky or the save option. The interrelation of both types of emotions is explored to find out if immediate emotions just can be seen as reflections of those anticipated. The interrelation of the immediate emotions connected to the option to take a risk and the option not to take it is examined to find out if the one can be said to be the negative mirror image of the other. To find out how the content of anticipated and immediate emotions change when the decision problem is changed, the situation of deciding is manipulated: Either in changing the chances of winning or changing social dependencies connected to the decision. It then is investigated to what extend the effect of the manipulation of the decision situation on behavior is transported by changes of the emotional content � either via immediate or anticipated emotions. Especially it is focused on how emotions affect the decision additionally and independent of subjective probability, changes of objective chances, the grade of ambiguity or the grade of social dependencies of the decision