Effects of approach and withdrawal motivation on interactive economic decisions

Abstract

Although recent economic models of human decision making have recognised the role of emotion as an important biasing factor, the impact of incidental emotion on decisions has remained poorly explored. To address this question, we jointly explored the role of emotional valence (i.e., positive vs. negative) and motivational direction (i.e., approach vs. avoidance) on performance in a well-known economic task, the Ultimatum Game. Participants had to either accept or reject monetary offers from other players, offers that vary in their degree of unfairness. A main effect of motivational direction, but not valence, was observed, with withdrawal-based emotion (disgust and serenity) prompting more rejections relative to approach-based emotion (anger and amusement) and a neutral state. These results further confirm that subtle incidental moods can bias decision making, and suggest that motivational state may be a useful framework to study such decisions. Implications with regard to emotion, cognitive neuroscience, and clinical psychology are discussed.

Keywords:

• Emotion
• Motivation
• Approach
• Avoidance
• Decision making
• Ultimatum Game

Notes

¹The effects of motivation on the rejection of unfair offers was strongest for disgust (p<.05) and marginal for serenity (p=.10), both when assessed with respect to a neutral induction condition (n=38). Acceptance rates in the anger and amusement conditions, however, did not differ from those in the neutral condition (p>.80). Thus, priming effects occurred with withdrawal-based emotion, but not with approach-based emotion.