Persuasive Communication - How Audiences Decide. 2nd Edition

Emotions in Audience Decision Making 313

in particular ways that cognitive scientists refer to as “action tendencies.”^13 And since emotions

are usually accompanied by expressive postures, gestures, and facial and vocal expressions, emotions

also serve to communicate the audience’s feeling states to others.^14 Short-circuiting the audience’s

rational processing of information is another primary function of emotions.^15

In addition, emotions serve to enhance the audience’s memory. Audiences are more likely to

remember emotional stimuli than neutral stimuli.^16 In a study of emotional words in messages,

adults of different ages read sentences that were written either to stir emotions (e.g., “There was a

raging fi re in the forest”) or to be emotionally neutral (e.g., “There was a dirt road in the forest”).

Both younger and older adults showed enhanced memory for the emotional words in the sentences

they read.^17

Audiences are also likely to remember emotional stimuli more vividly.^18 Many studies show that

audiences have enhanced “fl ashbulb memories” of emotionally salient public events.^19 At the same

time audiences may have diffi culty intentionally forgetting emotional stimuli. Although audiences

can intentionally forget neutral photographs, they fi nd it hard to forget either emotionally negative

or positive photographs.^20

The Impact of Emotions on Decision Making

Emotional Decisions vs. Rational Decisions

Emotions are often better predictors of audience behavior than reason.^21 When emotions and

reason are consistent with one another, both exert equal infl uence on the audience’s attitudes

and behaviors.^22 However, when emotions and reason are at odds, the audience’s emotions have a

greater infl uence on them than reason.

Surprisingly, when audience decisions are based on emotions, individual audience members may

agree more with other members of the audience than when their decisions are based on reason.^23

The consensual nature of audience members’ emotional responses may explain why jurors often

agree strongly on how they feel about legal cases yet disagree just as strongly on the amount of

punitive damages to award.^24

Unlike rational decisions, the emotional decisions audiences make are insensitive to quantity.

For example, audiences donate less to save pandas when they see the number of pandas to be saved

represented as dots as opposed to seeing a photograph of a single panda.^25 Emotional decisions are

insensitive to probabilities as well.^26 Contrary to the assumptions of economic theory, research par-

ticipants are unwilling to pay more to avoid a high probability of receiving an electric shock than

to avoid a low probability of receiving the same shock.^27

Up to 50% of consumer purchase decisions can be classifi ed as emotional or impulse pur-

chases.^28 And almost 90% of consumers make impulsive, emotion-based purchases at least

occasionally.^29 What’s more, they do so across a broad range of product offerings in a variety

of price ranges.^30

Emotions can even determine decisions that require substantial rational thought and delibera-

tion from the audience.^31 For example, emotions play a critical role in determining voters’ decisions

during U.S. presidential elections.^32 Sociologist Amitai Etzioni goes so far as to assert that “the

majority of choices people make, including economic ones, are completely or largely based on

normative-affective [i.e., emotional] considerations.”^33

In some situations, audiences are especially likely to make emotional as opposed to rational

decisions. For example, a consumer’s decisions are more likely to be based on emotional consid-

erations when the consumer is looking for a particular experience such as having fun as opposed