Emotion and Decision Making

Abstract

The traditional characterization of emotion and decision making suggests that there are two opposing forces that can underlie choices: emotion, described as irrational and spontaneous, and reason, which is logical and deliberative. Although this dual-process approach is intuitively appealing, it fails to capture both the complexity of emotion and the diverse impact it has on decision processes. In this chapter, we highlight an integrative approach to understanding the relation between emotion and decision making. First, we review how two brain regions typically linked to decision making and emotion, the straitum and amygdala, both play roles in mediating value, learning, and action. Second, we review initial neuroeconomic studies that measure or manipulate specific emotion variables and examine their impact on decisions. Given that the purpose of emotion is to highlight what is relevant and important, it is not surprising that it should have a broad and critical role in decision making. However, research on the complex interaction of emotion and decision making is only beginning to emerge in neuroeconomics.