ABSTRACT
Perhaps with the exception of Mr. Spock from the USS Enterprise, presumably all of us have had the experience that our judgments and decisions are often influenced by our feelings. Not surprisingly, then, the notion that judgments and decisions are influenced by how we feel is not new at all. The scientific interest in this issue has manifested itself in a longtradition of philosophical speculation (e.g., Descartes, 1961/1649) and psychological thinking (e.g., Freud, 1940; James, 1890). Quite in line with Mr. Spock’s view, most of these traditional positions hold that affect reduces individuals’ ability to think rationally about the social world, and that affective states thus impair individuals’ judgments and decisions (see Forgas, 2000). More recent research suggests, however, that affect is not necessarily creating irrationalities, but that affective states often provide a useful source for the regulation of cognitive processes. In the present chapter, we address this latter aspect by discussinghow mood influences individuals’ processing and decision-making strategies. Given the scope of the present chapter, we do not elaborate on other aspects on the interplay of affect and decision making (e.g., postdecisional affect, anticipated affect, or memories of past affects; for an overview, see Schwarz, 2000).
