Abstract
The implication of spontaneous and induced unhappiness to people's decision style is examined. It is postulated that unhappy individuals have a greater tendency to avoid frequent losses because these can have depleting effects, and unhappy individuals are more sensitive to such effects. This is evaluated in Study 1 by using an annoying customer call manipulation to induce negative affect; and by examining the effect of this manipulation on choices in an experiential decision task (the Iowa Gambling task). In Study 2 we examined the association between self-reported (un)happiness and choices on the same decision task. In Study 1 the induction of negative affect led to avoidance of choice alternatives with frequent losses, compared to those yielding rarer but larger losses. Specifically, this pertained to the advantageous alternatives with frequent vs. non-frequent losses. In Study 2 unhappiness was similarly associated with less exposure to frequent losses; while extreme high happiness was associated with no tendency to avoid frequent losses when these were part of an advantageous alternative. The findings clarify the role of happiness in decision making processes by indicating that unhappiness induces sensitivity to the frequency rather than to the total effect of negative events.
Highlights
Positive-psychology theories of well-being and happiness often take an Aristotelian approach, in which happiness is the product of the pursuit for meaning in a person’s life (Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi, 2000)
We suggest that if decision tasks are constructed, unhappy individuals would avoid alternatives producing frequent losses
We studied the difference between the proportion of selections from the alternatives with frequent or infrequent losses within the advantageous alternatives (Loss50 − Loss10) and disadvantageous (DisLoss50 − DisLoss10) alternatives
Summary
Positive-psychology theories of well-being and happiness often take an Aristotelian approach, in which happiness is the product of the pursuit for meaning in a person’s life (Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi, 2000). In Aristotle’s words “Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence” (Aristotle, 2000) These theories focus on variables such as moments of highly positive experiences at work (e.g., Csikszentmihalyi, 1990), people’s relation to their work (Wrzesniewski and Dutton, 2001), the availability of time for personally significant activities (Perlow, 1999), and the fit between personal goals and one’s personality (Kasser and Ahuvia, 2002). A much earlier Greek philosopher, Epicurus, had a different view on what makes people happy He argued that well-being is the product of not-suffering (De Witt, 1964).
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