ABSTRACT
Standard models of decision making are consequentialist; they assume that when people make a decision they consider the consequence of alternative courses of action, and their feelings about those consequences (utilities). Behavioral modifications of these models have generally adhered to this consequentialist perspective. For example, prospect theory assumes that people weigh probabilities, and models of hyperbolic time discounting assume that people discount probabilities, in special ways. More globally, it helps to explain why we tend to make long term, often irrevocable decisions, on the basis of transient emotional states—because we cannot imagine feeling differently and assume the emotions of the moment will endure. Immediate feelings play a key role in decision making under uncertainty, as author’s co-authors and author argue in a paper titled "Risk as Feelings." Finally, immediate feelings play a key role in the behavior of greatest interest to marketers: consumer spending.
