Judgment under emotional certainty and uncertainty: The effects of specific emotions on information processing.

Abstract

The authors argued that emotions characterized by certainty appraisals promote heuristic processing, whereas emotions characterized by uncertainty appraisals result in systematic processing. The 1st experiment demonstrated that the certainty associated with an emotion affects the certainty experienced in subsequent situations. The next 3 experiments investigated effects on processing of emotions associated with certainty and uncertainty. Compared with emotions associated with uncertainty, emotions associated with certainty resulted in greater reliance on the expertise of a source of a persuasive message in Experiment 2, more stereotyping in Experiment 3, and less attention to argument quality in Experiment 4. In contrast to previous theories linking valence and processing, these findings suggest that the certainty appraisal content of emotions is also important in determining whether people engage in systematic or heuristic processing.

Cites (9)

1. The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations
   Baron, Reuben M., Kenny, David A. · 1986 · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
2. Judgment under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases: Biases in judgments reveal some heuristics of thinking under uncertainty.
   Tversky, Amos, Kahneman, Daniel · 1974 · Science
3. Judgment under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases
   Tversky, Amos, Kahneman, Daniel · 1975 · Utility, Probability, and Human Decision Making
4. A theory of social comparison processes
   Festinger, Leon · 1954 · Human Relations
5. Mood, misattribution, and judgments of well-being: Informative and directive functions of affective states.
   Schwarz, Norbert, Clore, Gerald L. · 1983 · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
6. The processes of causal attribution.
   Kelley, Harold H. · 1973 · American Psychologist
7. Mood and judgment: The affect infusion model (AIM).
   Forgas, Joseph P. · 1995 · Psychological Bulletin
8. Positive affect facilitates creative problem solving.
   Isen, Alice M., Daubman, Kimberly A., Nowicki, Gary P. · 1987 · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
9. Appraisal components, core relational themes, and the emotions
   Smith, Craig A., Lazarus, Richard S. · 1993 · Cognition & Emotion

Show all 9 references

Cited by (51)

1. Representativeness revisited: Attribute substitution in intuitive judgment.
   Kahneman, Daniel, Frederick, Shane · 2002 · Heuristics and Biases
2. Fear, anger, and risk.
   Lerner, Jennifer S., Keltner, Dacher · 2001 · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
3. Emotion and Decision Making
   Lerner, Jennifer S., Li, Ye, Valdesolo, Piercarlo, Kassam, Karim S. · 2015 · Annual Review of Psychology
4. The Affect Heuristic
   Slovic, Paul, Finucane, Melissa, Peters, Ellen, MacGregor, Donald G. · 2002 · Heuristics and Biases
5. Unpacking the Black Box of Causality: Learning about Causal Mechanisms from Experimental and Observational Studies
   IMAI, KOSUKE, KEELE, LUKE, TINGLEY, DUSTIN, YAMAMOTO, TEPPEI · 2011 · American Political Science Review

See all 1,441