*feeling and thinking

Article:
'How You Feel Drives How You Choose'

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/06/050605184031.htm

"According to the study, angry consumers were 37% more likely to choose a default option than sad individuals... For instance, if you are choosing different retirement options, you are more likely to stick with the default retirement option (often company stock) if you are angry compared to sad. Sad people tend to examine all the options more carefully and choose the best available option. The moral: Don't make important decisions when you are angry."

Incidental and Task-Related Affect: A Re-Inquiry and Extension of the Influence of Choice. Journal of Consumer Research. June 2005.

There is without a doubt that anger and sadness can affect one's decision making processes. However, I wonder if it is fair to say that the angry one's simply more like to choose the default option. An uninformed consumer or "neutral mood" consumer may also pick the default option because of his/her lack of understanding. Given a plethora of options, and being told what could do what, one may easily revert to the default plan that is prepared. This raises questions about the dynamic between being informed and one's emotions. That is, what were the accepted propositions that initiated such an emotion or if the emotion was risen from a prior context which was lead into a decision making process with a default option. Such would be a variable to consider. The study itself, would seem to be more involved with the emotion of anger and its relationship with decision making. And yes, if one had to make a decision while angry one is more likely than not to make a rash decision, and probably - more often than not - that decision will be the default option. But I think it is too simple, without looking at the methodology and variables in the study (which I am too lazy to do at the moment), to state that if one is angry then one will be more likely to pick the default option. The variables must consider why one is angry, if it has to do with the options presented and the information provided, and the context in which the options are presented. Another psychological consideration is the way in which one is primed with the options. In this sense it would be wise to look at the relationship between priming and anger. Furthermore, how persons deal with anger will also vary. As it would also vary across cultures and how they manage those emotions in decision making contexts. I'm sure there are more things to point out but I will stop here, not having read the study and other articles I would like to read awaiting.