Influence of Emotions and Cognitive Styles on the Decision-Making of Administrative Staff in Higher Education Institutions

Abstract

Research aims to make an exploration of the influence of emotions on decision-making of administrative staff in higher education institutions and the adjustment role of cognitive styles on the relation between emotions and decision-making. In the experiment, 136 administrative staff at middle-and top level in higher education institutions was chosen as the subjects and textual materials acting as stimulus materials were used to stimulate both positive and negative emotions. Then, subjects bearing different cognitive styles and emotions were asked to make decisions and judgments. This test adopted the between-subject design of 2(emotional styles) ×2 (cognitive styles). The result indicates that the influence of emotion is quite significant: subjects stimulated by positive emotions make extremely different decisions when compared with subjects stimulated by negative emotions. Cognitive styles work as adjustment factors, adjusting the intensity of the relations between emotions and decision-making. Thus, the decision-making of administrative staff in higher education institutions is depended on the significant influence of emotions and cognitive styles interacting with the relations between emotions and decision-making.