Why valence is not enough in the study of emotions: behavioral differences between regret and disappointment

This paper reflects on the role of emotions in decision-making. The authors stress the limitations of a valence (“positivity” versus “negativity”) based approach. Emotions and their experiential content are synthetically exposed. Research has shown that even closely related emotions - such as regret...

ver descrição completa

Detalhes bibliográficos
Autor principal: Fructuoso Martinez,Luis (author)
Outros Autores: Zeelenberg,Marcel (author), Rijsman,John B. (author)
Formato: article
Idioma:eng
Publicado em: 2008
Assuntos:
Texto completo:http://scielo.pt/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0874-20492008000200007
País:Portugal
Oai:oai:scielo:S0874-20492008000200007
Descrição
Resumo:This paper reflects on the role of emotions in decision-making. The authors stress the limitations of a valence (“positivity” versus “negativity”) based approach. Emotions and their experiential content are synthetically exposed. Research has shown that even closely related emotions - such as regret and disappointment -, whether anticipated or experienced, have differential influences on the behavior of decision makers. This favours emotion-specific research in decision-making context, i.e., the pragmatic “feeling-is-for-doing” approach. We believe the emotional system is the primary motivational system for goal-directed behavior.