Virtually all current theories of choice under risk or uncertainty are cognitive and consequentialist. They assume that people assess the desirability and likelihood of possible outcomes of choice alternatives and integrate this information through some type of expectation-based calculus to arrive at a decision. The authors propose an alternative theoretical perspective, the risk-as-feelings hypothesis, that highlights the role of affect experienced at the moment of decision making. Drawing on research from clinical, physiological, and other subfields of psychology, they show that emotional reactions to risky situations often diverge from cognitive assessments of those risks. When such divergence occurs, emotional reactions often drive behavior. The risk-as-feelings hypothesis is shown to explain a wide range of phenomena that have resisted interpretation in cognitive-consequentialist terms.

ABSTRACT: The present article examines the nature and function of human agency within the conceptual model of triadic reciprocal causation. In analyzing the operation of human agency in this interactional causal structure, social cognitive theory accords a central role to cognitive, vicarious, self-reflective, and self-regulatory processes. The issues addressed concern the psychological mechanisms through which personal agency is exercised, the hierarchical structure of self-regulatory systems, eschewal of the dichotomous construal of self as agent and self as object, and the properties of a nondualistic but nonreductional conception of human agency. The relation of agent causality to the fundamental issues of freedom and determinism is also analyzed. The recent years have witnessed a resurgence of interest

and Creative Modeling Modeling is not simply a process of response mimicry as commonly believed. Modeled judgments and actions may differ in specific content but embody the same rule. For example, a model may deal with moral dilemmas that differ widely in the nature of the activity but apply the same moral standard to them. Modeled activities thus convey rules for generative and innovative behavior. This higher level learning is achieved through abstract modeling. Once observers extract the rules underlying the modeled activities they can generate new behaviors that go beyond what they have seen or heard. Creativeness rarely springs entirely from individual inventiveness. A lot of modeling goes on in creativity. By refining preexisting innovations, synthesizing them into new ways and adding novel elements to them something new is created. When exposed to models of differing styles of thinking and behaving, observers vary in what they adopt from the different sources and thereby create ...

We propose that the experience of human desire involves intrusive thoughts and elaborated cognitions. Intrusive thoughts are triggered automatically by external cues, cognitive associates, negative emotion or physiological deficits. When they elicit significant pleasure or relief, cognitive elaboration usually ensues. Elaboration competes with concurrent cognitive tasks through retrieval of target-related information and its retention in working memory. It includes the construction of mental images that simulate the sensory and emotional qualities of the target of the desire. These images are momentarily rewarding but amplify awareness of somatic and emotional deficits. The impact of desires on related behaviors is moderated by competing incentives, target availability and skills. The theory accounts for existing data and suggests new directions for research and treatment. 120 words The imaginary relish is so sweet That it enchants my sense. (Shakespeare, Troilus & Cressida, Act 3, Scene 2). Here you are, innocently reading a psychology journal, and a paper suddenly mentions someone drinking coffee at a sidewalk caf on a sunny Sunday morning. Chances are that you can immediately imagine how good it would be to have a cup of fine coffee. Maybe you imagine the smell of the freshly ground coffee beans, the smell and taste of the coffee, the sound of the grinder and the bubble and steam of the espresso machine. If you do not especially enjoy coffee, or have just finished a cup, this image may have little appeal. But if you would really enjoy a cup right now, the image has a pleasurable piquancy --#a tantalizing enchantment that, like a tickle to your foot, moves easily to a sense of torture if the desire cannot be fulfilled. From its inception, the thought captures your att...

This article presents the Appraisal Tendency Framework (ATF) (Lerner & Keltner, 2000, 2001; Lerner & Tiedens, 2006) as a basis for predicting the influence of specific emotions on consumer decision making. In particular, the ATF addresses how and why specific emotions carry over from past situations to color future judgments and choices. After reviewing the main assumptions and the five main principles of the framework, two streams of research are presented. One stream addresses emotional carry-over effects on the assessment of risk; the other addresses carry-over effects on the assessment of monetary value. Because risk assessment and value assessment are fundamental psychological processes, understanding them has the potential to yield manifold implications for consumer judgment and decision making. The concluding sections highlight limitations and future directions of the framework.