Informational Properties of Anxiety and Sadness, and Displaced Coping

Abstract

Abstract Replicating Raghunathan and Pham (1999), results from two experiments confirm that while anxiety triggers a preference for options that are safer and provide a sense of control, sadness triggers a preference for options that are more rewarding and comforting. Results also indicate that these effects are driven by an affect-as-information process and are most pervasive when the source of anxiety or sadness is not salient. Finally, our results document a previously unrecognized phenomenon we term displaced coping, wherein affective states whose source is salient influence decisions that are seemingly—but not directly—related to the source of these affective states.