INSTRUMENTAL OR EMOTIONAL EVALUATIONS - WHAT DETERMINES PREFERENCES

The present study investigated the separability of two evaluative aspe cts, instrumental and emotional utilities, and tested the hypothesis t hat situational context influences the relative impact of these evalua tions in decision making. Twenty-nine subjects rank ordered eight opti ons according to their preferences. The options were hypothetical priz es the subjects could win, either in a mail lottery (private context) or in a TV show (public context). Subjects rated all options on utilit y scales and indicated their emotional associations. It was hypothesiz ed that in the private context condition subjects' preferences were mo re influenced by emotions, whereas due to justification demands, prefe rences were more influenced by instrumental considerations in the publ ic context condition. A multidimensional preference analysis yielded t wo dimensions. The second of these dimensions distinguished between ex perimental conditions. An individual differences scaling analysis yiel ded significantly higher subject weights for the second dimension in t he public context group, The first dimension could be interpreted as m apping positive versus negative emotions, whereas the second dimension reflected instrumental evaluations. Regression analyses indicate that both instrumental and emotional evaluations significantly contribute in predicting preferences, but that the relation between preferences a nd evaluative dimensions is only indirect.