Happiness and

choice
- Emotion, such as happiness, can have a powerful influence on
choice.
- Being in a positive mood affects individuals’ cognitive
processing:
*Be optimistic about favorable events occurring. (2)
*Be creative in their problem solving. (4)
*More likely to engage in heuristic processing.
*Think abstractly rather focus on immediate and proximal
concerns.
•More likely to engage in heuristic processing (Schwarz, Clore;
1983) (1)
Two experiments investigated whether judgments of happiness and
satisfaction with one’s life are influence by mood at the time of judgment.
- Ex 1: Moods were induced by asking for vivid descriptions of a recent
happy or sad event in respondents’ lives.
- Ex 2: Moods were induced by interviewing participants on sunny or rainy
days.
In both experiments, subjects reported more happiness and satisfaction
with their life as a whole when in a good mood than when in a bad mood.
•Think abstractly rather focus on immediate and proximal
concerns (Labroo, Pattrick; 2009) (3)
Psychological Distancing: Why Happiness Helps You See the Big Picture
-A positive mood, by signaling that a situation is benign, might allow
people to step back and take in the big picture .As a consequence, a
positive mood might increase abstract construal and the adoption of
abstract, future goals.
- In contrast, a negative mood, by signaling not only danger but also its
imminence, might focus attention on immediate and proximal concerns and
reduce the adoption of abstract, future goals.
Positive mood also influences choice directly:

-The way in which people make choices (Producing faster decisions).

-The choices people make:

•Less risky options (Isen, Patrick; 1983) (7).

•More variety across options (Kahn, Isen; 1993) (8).

•More prosocial alternatives (Fishbach, Labroo; 2007/ Oishi, Diener, Lucas; 2007) (9).
• Be Better or Be Merry: How Mood Affects Self-Control (9)

 Tested whether the effect of mood on self-control success depends on a person's

accessible goal.

Positive mood signals a person to adopt an accessible goal, whereas negative

mood signals a person to reject an accessible goal.

• The Optimum Level of Well-being: Can People Be Too Happy? (9)

Recent research indicates that happiness is functional and generally leads to success.
However, most people are already above neutral in happiness.

=> Whether higher levels of happiness facilitate more effective functioning than do
lower levels?
 If individuals differ in how they define happiness, the allure of a
particular option should vary according to whether it resonates with
one’s particular definition.

Someone who defines happiness as feeling calm should be favor options that
promises peacefulness over options that promise excitement.

• Drinks ( Tea > Coffee).

• Experience ( A beach vacation >

An adventure vacation).

• Activity ( Yoga > Running).

- Prior work has shown that feelings of excitement and calm influence
product evaluations.

• Participants who were led to feel excited evaluated an ad promising an adventurous

vacation more favorably.

• Participants who were led to feel calm evaluated an ad promising a serene vacation
more favorably.

- Building on these findings, we test for the critical role of experiencing

these emotions as happiness in determining their impact on choice. To
the degree that happiness is a desirable state and consumers are
motivated to experience it, whether consumers define happiness more
as excitement or calm should affect subsequent choices.
H1: An individual’s definition of
happiness affects choice, whereby

(a) defining happiness more as

excitement increases the
tendency to choose an exciting
option over a calming option; and
(b) defining happiness more as
feeling calm increases the
tendency to choose a calming
option over an exciting option.
- In addition to happiness, age has been shown to influence choice:
Older people tend to choose emotionally fulfilling social interac-tions, whereas younger
people tend to choose social inter-actions that provide novelty (Carstensen; 1999) (13).

Older people tend to also be more persuaded by messages that serve emotionally
meaningful goals ( Fung, Carstensen; 2003)(14), and they perceive prevention goals as
relatively more important than promotion goals (Pennington, Roese; 2003)(15).

When choosing among brands, older consumers tend to prefer familiar options whereas
younger consumers are more apt to choose new, unknown brands.
- Even though older people tend to be more present focused and
less concerned with the future than younger people (Fingerman,
Perlmutter; 1995), we argue that individuals’ temporal focus can be
influenced by situational factors and can thus influence choice.
• When focused on the future, happiness is defined more as feeling excited,
so consumers should be more likely to choose an option that makes them feel
excited.

• When focused on the present, happiness is defined more as feeling calm, so

consumers should be more likely to choose an option that makes them feel
calm.
• H2: Temporal focus influences
choice, whereby
(a) a future focus increases the
tendency to choose an exciting
product over a calming
product; and
(b) a present focus increases
the tendency to choose a
calming product over an
exciting product.
 Experiment 1:
Being present
and choosing tea
 • Method
I. Participants: 51 students between
the ages of 18 and 24.
II. Procedure:
1. Randomly assigned to 2 groups.
2. Listen to Buddhist mediation
instructions
3. Complete a survey
4. Participant pick on of the tea bags
(calming tea or exciting tea), unaware
that they choice was observed.
• Results:

FIGURE 2
EXPERIMENT 1: EFFECT OF TEMPORAL FOCUS ON YOUNG
INDIVIDUALS’ MEANING OF HAPPINESS AND CHOICE