Article2002

The Affective Consequences of Expected and Unexpected Outcomes

202 citations0/0 files storedPsychological Science

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Decision-Making and Behavioral Economics Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies Experimental Behavioral Economics Studies

Abstract

How do people feel about unexpected positive and negative outcomes? Decision affect theory (DAT) proposes that people feel displeasure when their outcomes fall short of the counterfactual alternative and elated when their outcomes exceed the counterfactual alternative. Because disconfirmed expectations provide a counterfactual alternative, DAT predicts that bad outcomes feel worse when unexpected than when expected, yet good outcomes feel better when unexpected than when expected. Consistency theories propose that people experience displeasure when their expectations are disconfirmed because the disconfirmation suggests an inability to predict. According to consistency theories, both good and bad outcomes feel worse when unexpected than when expected. These two theoretical approaches were tested in three studies. The results consistently support DAT

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References

1957A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance 2017A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance 1958The psychology of interpersonal relations.1958The Psychology of Interpersonal Relations.2008Social psychology: handbook of basic principles 1997Social psychology: handbook of basic principles 1986Norm theory: Comparing reality to its alternatives.1997Decision Affect Theory: Emotional Reactions to the Outcomes of Risky Options

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