Emotions influence on decision making

From the beginning of their careers, poker players learn how to develop and maintain professional mindset, emotional stability and expand cognitive abilities – essential factors allowing them to make rational and analytical actions during the game. In this article, I will present the influence of emotions on decision making and their mechanisms distorting humans’ cognitive processes which may result in undertaking unfavorable choices.
 

INTRODUCTION

Research on decision making show that emotions have a significant influence on human cognition [5][7][12] especially it’s aspects such as risk estimation [6] information selection [9] or prediction of future consequences [10]. People experiencing intensive affective states take decisions that differ from the ones being taken under no influence of emotions. In addition, these decisions are usually irrational and may be unfavorable for a decision-maker [12] which is very often associated with inappropriate risk estimation and distorted perception of mathematical odds. Such effects very often concern poker players, especially ones experiencing tilt.

TILT

Tilt is a common phenomenon experienced mostly by beginner or recreational poker players. It can be defined as an emotional state resulting in out-of-control decision making, usually caused by monetary losses, e.g. bad beats or long-term downswings [11].

WHAT ARE EMOTIONS AND WHAT ARE THEIR ROLES?

Emotions are physiological responses to the events that are perceived by an individual as important. They are elicited by changes occurring in one’s surrounding that may influence the entity of the person or be life-threatening. Emotions fulfill an adaptational function which inform humans about those changes and allow them to react quickly, for example by activating the fight-or-flight mechanism while encountering danger [4][7].

6 COGNITIVE APPRAISAL PROPERTIES OF EMOTIONS

There exist 6 cognitive appraisal properties of emotions that distort humans’ perception and change their subjective view of surrounding or expectations of future events. Every emotion is characterized by its own intensity of certain property and its influence on cognitive appraisal [7][8].  These properties are:

WAYS EMOTIONS INFLUENCE DECISION MAKING

Individuals experiencing positive emotions tend to overestimate the likelihood of advantageous and to underestimate the likelihood of disadvantageous outcomes and events. In contrast, experiencing negative emotions elicit an opposite effect [12].

Individuals experiencing positive emotions are more likely to adopt heuristic processing strategy, while individuals experiencing negative emotions use to adopt systemic processing strategy [12]. Heuristic processing allows reacting quickly and undertaking decisions with low cognitive cost. Systemic processing, on the other hand, is associated with paying more attention to details and less selective use of information. Therefore, in a perspective of a poker player, it seems more advantageous to feel sadness, rather than be aroused.

Anger is the most frequently occurring emotion on tilt. Even though it is considered a negative emotion, it is very similar to the positive emotions in its influence on decision making. First of all, anger is associated with high intensity of certainty and control which results in more positive risk estimations. Individuals experiencing anger tend to overestimate the outcomes of future events as well as they are more likely to engage in risky actions. Because of high intensity of responsibility, they may also perceive other players as responsible for the current state of event. For example, angry poker players can blame their opponents for hitting the river, even though it only depends on the variance [7].

Experiencing anger may cause a lower trust for other people [8]. It might be accurate to assume that poker players on tilt may incorrectly estimate opponent’s ranges and suspect them to have a bluff hand too often.

Fear and anxiety are emotions strongly associated with low certainty and sense of control. Individuals experiencing these emotions tend to underestimate the risk and outcomes of future positive events [5][6][7][12]. Therefore poker players in such states may be afraid of calling light when it’s profitable or bluff raising due to a “hunch” of being called.

Not only are the emotions being experienced the ones influencing the decision making processes. Research [1][9][13] suggest that people seem to make decisions depending on what emotions might be felt as an outcomes of these decisions. For example, poker players may play too passively or fold a certain hand due to a feeling of regret if they lose more money.

Druckman and McDermott [3] indicate that humans are generally risk-aversive. It means that individuals tend to make decisions that are mostly safe and generate certain profit. In the other hand, people behave differently on the side of losses. They are more willing to take a risk while trying to avoid bigger losses.

REFERENCES

1. Bell, D.E. (1982). Regret in decision making under uncertainty. Operations Research, 30, 961-981.

2. Coricelli, G., Dolan, R.J., Sirigu, A. (2007). Brain, emotion and decision making: the paradigmatic example of regret. TRENDS in Cognitive Sciences, 11, 258-265.

3. Druckman, J.N, McDermott, R. (2008). Emotion and the framing of risky choice. Political Behavior, 30, 297-321.

4. Frijda, N.H. (1988). Laws of emotion. American Psychologist, 43, 349-358.

5. Heilman, R.M., Crisan, L.G., Houser, D. (2010). Emotion regulation and decision making under risk and uncertainty. Emotion, 10, 257-265.

6. Lerner, J.S., Keltner, D. (2001). Fear, anger, and risk. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81, 146-159.

7. Lerner, J.S., Tiedens, L.Z. (2006). Portrait of the angry decision maker. How appraisal tendencies shape anger’s influence on cognition. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 19, 115-137.

8. Macko, A. (2008). Złość a procesy oceniania i podejmowania decyzji. Decyzje, 10, 59-81.

9. Mellers, B., Schwartz, A., Ritov, I. (1999). Emotion-based choice. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 128, 332-345.

10. Naqvi, N., Shiv, B., Bechara, A. (2006). The role of emotion in decision making. Psychological Science, 15, 260-265.

11. Palomaki, J. (2013). New perspectives on emotional processes and decision making in the game of poker. Studies in Cognitive Science, 4.

12. Schwarz, N. (2000). Emotion, cognition, and decision making. Cognition and emotion, 14, 433-440.

13. Zeelenberg, M., Beattie, J., van der Pligt, J., de Vries, N.K. (1996). Consequences of regret aversion: effects of expected feedback on risky decision making. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 65, 148-158.