The Springs of Action: Affective and Analytical Information Processing in Choice

Affective processes were predicted to play a critical role in choices among complex stimuli. As hypothesized, self-report measures of individual differences in affective information processing were associated with choices in a task designed by Bechara, Damasio, Damasio, and Anderson to mimic the gains, losses, and uncertainties of real life decisions. The results were stronger when the processing of losses was considered separately from the processing of gains. Greater negative affectivity was associated with more avoidance of high-loss options; greater positive affectivity was associated with more choices from high-gain options. Both measures of affectivity added unique explanatory power to the prediction of choices among the decks over and above conscious knowledge about the decks. Affect appears to play an important role in guiding decisions and judgments.