How emotions move us: An integrative framework for emotions and decision making

Much research on emotions and decision making asserts that experiencing an emotion can affect subsequent decisions through the emotion’s associated cognitive appraisals. Focusing on the appraisals associated with emotions represents but one view on emotional experiences–one that emphasizes the interpretations of the environment that accompany emotions. A related but distinct component of emotions is action tendency, which represents the drive to execute an action to achieve a particular goal (Frijda, 1986). The current paper introduces an Integrative Framework for Emotions and Decision Making (IFED) which asserts that emotions can affect decisions by two distinct pathways–cognitive appraisals and action tendencies (Proposition 1). The IFED proposes that inherent qualities of each emotion may moderate whether the appraisal or action tendency is more likely to affect subsequent decisions (Propositions 2a and 2b) and presents contextual moderators for whether an emotion’s appraisals or action tendencies carry over (Propositions 3a, 3b, 4, and 5). Finally, we outline implications for future research, such as selecting study materials, emotion comparison conditions, and study measures.