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Running Head: NEGATIVE EMOTIONS AFFECT MOTIVATIONS 1

NEGATIVE EMOTIONS AFFECT MOTIVATIONS PAGE 6

Negative Emotions Affect Motivations in the Decision-Making Process – Outline & Thesis

1) Introduction

a) In the everyday world, there are many unexpected life events an individual may experience. An emotional situation, such as a marriage ending in divorce, can trigger feelings of failure, inadequacy, sadness, and anxiety. The cognitive processes involved with emotional influences on goals and decision-making come into play when one experiences these specific negative emotions. This paper will review some of the most relevant findings on appraisal theories of negative emotions. Three research studies associated with emotional influences of goals and decision-making provide the framework and substance of the analysis.

b) Thesis Statement: Unexpected life events which trigger negative emotions, such as a marriage ending in divorce, can directly affect motivations of the decision-making process because a "clouded mind”, or blockage of goals, delays the reactions of the individual's emotions and directly affects the mind's stability.

2) Body

a) First Supporting Evidence

i) The key to why we have emotions lies in the pursuance of goals. As humans, we must commit to one goal at a time, and the goals must be matched with the best moments for achieving them. Different goals are appropriate during different situations. The emotions are mechanisms that set the highest-level goals and, once triggered, cascade into sub-goals that we call thinking and acting (Pinker, 1954, p. 373).

ii) Often, the rational strategy of decision-making is to go for a quick reward instead of a distant payoff. Those who sacrifice long-term interests for short-term gratification are led by emotion rather than reason. Self-control enables us to defer a reward and delay gratification. Even if we know what the long-term decision should be, our emotions kick in and decide the choice “for now" is best. But most decisions about the future are made by the mind (Pinker, 1954, p. 393-394).

b) Second Supporting Evidence

i) Research suggests that anxiety heightens people's preoccupation with risk and uncertainty, whereas sadness heightens people's preoccupation with reward. Both negative affective states, anxiety and sadness thus seem to trigger distinct motivational inclinations (Raghunathan & Pham, 2000, p. 71).

ii) Research suggests that emotions such as sadness and anxiety influence decision-making because each person's experience elicits a different interpretation of the situation. As a result, they will bring different implicit goals to the decision-making process. (Raghunathan & Pham, 2000, p. 60).

(1) Sadness is generally caused by circumstances influenced by situational factors (Raghunathan & Pham, 2000, p. 59). According to appraisal theorists, sadness is experienced in response to a loss of an object or person. As a result, individuals are inclined to interpret these feelings as meaning that "something (rewarding) is missing." Therefore, sad individuals are motivated for decision-making by an implicit goal of reward acquisition (Raghunathan & Pham, 2000, p. 60).

(2) Equally intriguing is the fear-like emotion anxiety, which is characteristic of uncertainty over the outcome and low control of a situation. Individuals are likely to interpret their feelings as signaling high uncertainty and lack of control, which brings an implicit goal of uncertainty reduction and risk avoidance to the decision-making process (Raghunathan & Pham, 2000, p. 60).

c) Third Supporting Evidence

i) Further research of appraisal theories of emotion suggests that people respond emotionally only to personally meaningful situations. If the situation has no personal value, the person does not associate with it emotionally. Therefore, experiencing an emotion links directly to an individual’s values and goals. (Turner, 2012, p. 216). Emotions such as sadness and anxiety are most often linked to highly meaningful situations, thus warranting a complex response. Specific situations which trigger anxiety and sadness would substantiate the individuals' subsequent actions and decisions. The appraisal process also presents views on personal coping potential with regard to the specific affect-producing event. During this aspect of the process, the appraisal promotes "action tendencies" (Turner, 2012, p. 216).

ii) One research study's findings support appraisal theories of emotions with respect to the participants' appraisal, interpretation, and meaning that he or she attributed to a critical unexpected life event. The participants' descriptions of the events were categorized as failures, transitions, or traumas depending on the intensity of the event (Turner, 2012, p. 220). Since emotions are defined as arousal of tension, situations with differing levels of intensity would result in the cognitive blockage of goals; producing subsequent levels of reactions to persist or cease those goals.

iii) In the same way that individuals are motivated by negative feelings such as sadness and anxiety, emotional reactions to a critical life event create varying levels of cognitive vulnerability that must be alleviated through passive avoidance (characteristic of decision-making with anxiety) or direct problem-solving (characteristic of decision-making with sadness) means.

iv) Further research in this same study determined that if a person perceives the unexpected life event as a failure and also believed that they were the cause of the failure, negative emotions (which could have been anxiety or sadness, the findings were not specific) comparable to feelings of inadequacy resulted in a moderate to high level of goal blockage (Turner, 2012, p. 221).

v) Unexpected events that triggered negative emotions also caused subsequent self-evaluation and self-reaction propensities in the participants, causing them to clarify their values, priorities, and goals, which often resulted in life course adjustments. Participants gained new insight, which was interpreted to as information. In this sense, individuals use their emotions to help guide their decision-making (Turner, 2012, p. 222).

3) Conclusion

a) During critical life events which evoke negative emotions, such as inadequacy, anxiety, and sadness, the level of tension (emotion) arises, resulting in subsequent levels of reactions which promote “action tendencies” in individuals. Cognitive thinking processes such as self-evaluation and self-reaction provide the necessary discernment, motivating the individual to either continue pursuance of goals and decision-making, or end the decision-making process.