Fear shapes information acquisition in decisions from experience

Frey, Renato; Hertwig, Ralph; Rieskamp, Jörg

doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2014.03.009

Cited by 31 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…The present study is limited by being focused on high‐arousal versus low‐arousal negative affective states associated with avoidance motivation and thus is mute to a large extent on the possible effects of specific emotions. Other studies, notably Frey, Hertwig, and Rieskamp () and Scheibehenne and von Helversen (), have analyzed this issue in more detail. Our study adds to this research by focusing more on varying degrees of arousal, without specifying the possible differences is information processing patterns arising from specific emotions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Probabilistic Inferences Under Emotional Stress: How Arousal Affects Decision Processes

Wichary

Mata

Rieskamp

2015

Behavioral Decision Making

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Many models of decision making neglect emotional states that could affect individuals' cognitive processes. The present work explores the effect of emotional stress on people's cognitive processes when making probabilistic inferences. Two contrasting hypotheses are tested against one another: the uncertainty-reduction and attention-narrowing hypotheses of how emotional stress affects decision making. In the experimental study, emotional stress was induced through the use of highly aversive pictures immediately before each decision. Emotional state was assessed by both subjective (state anxiety, arousal, and pleasantness ratings) and objective (skin conductance) measures. The results show that emotional stress impacts decision making; in particular, emotionally aroused participants seem to have focused on the most important information and selected simpler decision strategies relative to participants in a control condition. The results are in line with the attentionnarrowing hypothesis and suggest that emotional stress can impact decision making through limited predecisional information search and the selection of simpler decision strategies.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Probabilistic Inferences Under Emotional Stress: How Arousal Affects Decision Processes

Wichary

Mata

Rieskamp

2015

Behavioral Decision Making

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“…The choice problems were selected such that they included a balanced 1 We refer here to "integral affect" (Lerner, Li, Valdesolo, & Kassam, 2015) that is directly elicited by the potential outcome of a decision. For a study that investigates the effect of incidental affect on sampling, see Frey, Hertwig, and Rieskamp (2014). Note.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The gap between medical and monetary choices under risk persists in decisions for others

Popovic

Pachur

Gaissmaier

2019

Behavioral Decision Making

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Decisions under risk in the medical domain have been found to systematically diverge from decisions in the monetary domain. When making choices between monetary options, people commonly rely on a decision strategy that trades off outcomes with their probabilities; when making choices between medical options, people tend to neglect probability information. In two experimental studies, we tested to what extent differences between medical and monetary decisions also emerge when the decision outcomes affect another person. Using a risky choice paradigm for medical and monetary decisions, we compared hypothetical decisions that participants made for themselves to decisions for a socially distant other (Study 1) and to recommendations as financial advisor or doctor (Study 2). In addition, we examined people's information search in a condition in which information about payoff distributions had to be learned from experiential sampling. Formal modeling and analyses of search behavior revealed a similarly pronounced gap between medical and monetary decisions in decisions for others as in decisions for oneself. Our results suggest that when making medical decisions, people try to avoid the worst outcome while neglecting its probability—even when the outcomes affect others rather than themselves.

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“…We collected these measures to assess and control for potential effects of affect (see Frey, Hertwig, & Rieskamp, 2014) and affect variability; both may differ between younger and older adults (Röcke, Li, & Smith, 2009). During the practice session, participants completed six decisions problems (taken from Hertwig et al (2004)) under the supervision of the experimenter.…”

Section: Procedures and Measures Of Cognitive Abilitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of cognitive abilities in decisions from experience: Age differences emerge as a function of choice set size

2015

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People seldom enjoy access to summarized information about risky options before making a decision. Instead, they may search for information and learn about environmental contingencies-thus making decisions from experience. Aging is associated with notable deficits in learning and memory-but do these translate into poorer decisions from experience? We report three studies that used a sampling paradigm to investigate younger (M=24 years) and older (M=71 years) adults' decisions from experience. In Study 1 (N=121) participants made 12 decisions between pairs of payoff distributions in the lab. Study 2 (N=70) implemented the same paradigm using portable devices, collecting 84 decisions per individual over a week. Study 3 (N=84) extended the sampling paradigm by asking participants to make 12 decisions between two, four, and eight payoff distributions (in the lab). Overall, the behavioral results suggest that younger and older adults are relatively similar in how they search and what they choose when facing two payoff distributions (Studies 1 and 2). With an increasing number of payoff distributions, however, age differences emerged (Study 3). A modeling analysis on the level of individual participants showed that a simple delta-learning rule model best described the learning processes of most participants. To the extent that ongoing updating processes unfold relatively automatically and effortlessly, older adults may be liberated from the detrimental consequences of cognitive aging in the case of decisions from experience with few decision options. We discuss implications for research on decisions from experience and choice performance over the lifespan.

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Fear shapes information acquisition in decisions from experience

Cited by 31 publications

References 37 publications

Probabilistic Inferences Under Emotional Stress: How Arousal Affects Decision Processes

Probabilistic Inferences Under Emotional Stress: How Arousal Affects Decision Processes

The gap between medical and monetary choices under risk persists in decisions for others

The role of cognitive abilities in decisions from experience: Age differences emerge as a function of choice set size

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