Introduction

Even small variations in emotional state can influence decision-making. Emotions shape what we notice, how we weigh risks, and how confident we feel about our choices. This holds true not only for intense feelings like panic or euphoria but also for everyday shifts such as a touch of irritation, a sense of calm, or a low hum of anxiety.

Evidence From Research

1. Mood-Congruent Processing

People in positive moods are more likely to recall positive information, while those in negative moods recall more negative details. This bias, called mood-congruent memory, influences the information available during decision-making ^[1].

2. Risk Perception

Mild anxiety increases the perception of risk and encourages more cautious choices, while positive moods can promote risk-taking. For example, people in positive moods were more willing to gamble in classic lab tasks ^[2].

3. Cognitive Flexibility

Positive emotions broaden perspective and encourage creative problem solving, supporting flexible decision-making ^[3]. Negative emotions can narrow focus, sometimes helping with detail-oriented tasks but limiting big-picture thinking.

4. Somatic Marker Hypothesis

Emotional signals, often experienced as gut feelings, guide decisions by linking past experiences with present choices ^[4].

5. Everyday Variability

Laboratory studies show that even minor emotional shifts induced by short films or music reliably alter economic and moral choices ^[5].

More Recent Evidence

• Mood Fluctuations and Economic Trade-Offs: Everyday mood variations can shift cost–benefit trade-offs in decision-making, suggesting that even subtle changes matter ^[6].
• Emotion-Specific Effects: Different emotions have distinct effects. For example, guilt can make people more risk-averse under certain conditions ^[9].
• Dynamic Affective Integration: Newer models show that emotions integrate dynamically into value-based judgements, shaping expectations as well as outcomes ^[7].
• Neuroscience Evidence: Contemporary neuroscience highlights that emotion and cognition are deeply intertwined, functioning as partners in decision processes ^[8].

Practical Meaning

• Awareness Helps: Recognising when your mood is shaping your choices gives you room to pause.
• Not Always Harmful: Emotions can highlight what matters and add depth to our decisions.
• Gentle Realism: No one makes decisions in a purely rational vacuum. The goal is not to remove emotion but to work alongside it with awareness and balance.

References

1. Blaney, P. H. (1986). Affect and memory: A review. Psychological Bulletin, 99(2), 229–246. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.99.2.229
2. Isen, A. M., & Patrick, R. (1983). The effect of positive feelings on risk taking: When the chips are down. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 31(2), 194–202. https://doi.org/10.1016/0030-5073(83)90120-4
3. Fredrickson, B. L. (2001). The role of positive emotions in positive psychology: The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions. American Psychologist, 56(3), 218–226. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.56.3.218
4. Bechara, A., & Damasio, A. R. (2005). The somatic marker hypothesis: A neural theory of economic decision. Games and Economic Behavior, 52(2), 336–372. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geb.2004.06.010
5. Lerner, J. S., Li, Y., Valdesolo, P., & Kassam, K. S. (2015). Emotion and decision making. Annual Review of Psychology, 66, 799–823. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-010213-115043
6. Harlé, K. M., & Yu, A. J. (2023). Mood fluctuations shift cost–benefit tradeoffs in economic decisions. Scientific Reports, 13(1), 19074. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-45217-w
7. Keren, H., et al. (2024). Affective integration in experience, judgment, and decision-making. npj Mental Health Research, 3(1), 12. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44271-024-00178-2
8. Moll, J., Zahn, R., & de Oliveira-Souza, R. (2022). Neuroscience of emotion, cognition, and decision making: A review. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 887432. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.887432
9. Zhang, J., Li, Z., & Liu, Y. (2025). Guilt emotion and decision-making under uncertainty. Frontiers in Psychology, 16, 1518752. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1518752 in