Incidentally elicited multiple, discrete emotions have differential effects on risky behavior: The action priming perspective

We present a novel theoretical framework called the Action Priming Perspective to predict effects of discrete emotions on judgment and decision-making and report results from two studies examining five discrete emotions (anger, disgust, fear, happiness, and sadness) and neutral on a behavioral task of risky decision-making. We tested two hypotheses concerning single and combinatorial effects of the emotions based on previous theoretical and empirical work delineating the action priming functions of discrete emotions. As predicted, a fear–sadness combination, elicited separately but combined for analyses, produced the highest risk-taking behavior, higher than an anger–disgust combination (also elicited separately but combined for analyses). Sadness also produced more risky behavior than did disgust, as predicted. These effects, however, did not occur when the task was less uncertain. These findings were discussed vis-à-vis understanding implications of specific, discrete emotions on risky, ambiguous judgment and decision-making.