Publication Type
Journal Article
Version
submittedVersion
Publication Date
6-2013
Abstract
We review a variety of empirical findings consistent with the general thesis that the affective system of judgment and decision making is inherently anchored in the present. Building on this thesis, we advance the specific hypothesis that affective feelings are relied upon more (weighted more heavily) in judgments whose outcomes and targets are closer to the present than in those whose outcomes and targets are temporally more distant. Consistent with this hypothesis, results from five experiments show that temporal proximity (a) amplifies the relative preference for options that are affectively superior, and (b) increases the effects of incidental affect on evaluations. These effects are observed when compared to a more distant future as well as to a more distant past, and (c) they appear to be linked to a greater perceived information value of affective feelings in judgments whose outcomes and targets are closer to the present. Theoretical implications are discussed.
Keywords
Affect, emotions, judgement, consumer research
Discipline
Business | Marketing
Research Areas
Marketing
Publication
Journal of Consumer Research
Volume
40
Issue
1
First Page
42
Last Page
63
ISSN
0093-5301
Identifier
10.1086/668644
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Citation
CHANG, Hannah H. and PHAM, Michel Tuan.
Affect as a Decision-Making System of the Present. (2013). Journal of Consumer Research. 40, (1), 42-63.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research/3249
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.