Search all library resources

Affective influences on consumer decision making under uncertainty

This dissertation investigates various affective influences on decision making under risk and uncertainty. The first essay of the dissertation shows that the relationship between physiological arousal and risk-taking is more nuanced than previously found. The results demonstrate that lower levels of physiological arousal increase sensitivity to expected values of risky prospects, leading to more adaptive decisions, instead of increasing or decreasing risk seeking across the board. The second essay of the dissertation elucidates how anticipated guilt can lead to choices of uncertain options over certain ones, establishing how choosing uncertain outcomes can serve as a guilt reduction mechanism. Finally, the third essay investigates neural affective correlates of consumer disengagement from consumption episodes that have uncertain rewards that are known only as they unfold over time and exhibits how data from a neural focus group can improve forecasts of market-level behavior.