Differential Influences of Integral and Incidental Emotion on Cancer-related Judgments and Decision Making
Condition: Cancer; Overweight; Obesity
MeSH terms: Overweight
Study type: Observational

Summary: 
      Background:

      Researchers are testing new methods for research projects. They want to see how people
      respond to different types of communication, including videos. They also want to learn how
      people respond to life events and how they pay attention to computer tasks. They want to
      learn about how various risks and threats affect the way people make decisions.

      Objectives:

      To learn how different stimuli and events affect the way people make decisions.

      Eligibility:

      Adults ages 18 and older with a U.S. computer address

      Design:

      Participants will be recruited online.

      Participants will take one of three studies online. Each study will take about a half hour.

      Participants in Study 1 will watch a short video from a popular movie then answer questions.
      They will also complete 2 questionnaires. One will be about how likely they think it is that
      they will experience different risks and threats. The other will be about goals for behavior
      change.

      Participants in Study 2 will write in detail about a life event. Then they will answer
      questions. They will also complete the same 2 questionnaires as Study 1.

      Participants in Study 3 will pay close attention to words and images on a computer. They will
      answer questions about attitudes toward different behaviors, products, and experiences.

      ...
    

Detailed description: 
      Despite evidence that both integral (i.e., related to the decision) and incidental (i.e.,
      unrelated to the decision) emotions influence cancer-related decision making, no research has
      systematically examined whether these two types of emotion generate similar patterns of
      influence, as predicted by decision-making models. This is important because incidental
      emotions are often used experimentally to draw causal conclusions about how emotions
      influence cancer-related decisions with the notion that results will generalize to produce
      knowledge about integral emotions as well. Across three studies, we plan to directly compare
      integral and incidental emotional influences on judgments and decisions related to cancer
      control. We plan to examine whether effects are contingent on the type of emotional influence
      (the discrete emotions anger and fear, or general positive affect) or type of emotion
      induction (video, autobiographical induction, or evaluative conditioning). Across
      experiments, we predict that emotion will influence both judgment and decision-making
      outcomes when the induced emotion is integral as well as when it is incidental. However, we
      predict that the magnitude of the effect of emotion on these types of responses will be
      significantly greater when emotions are integral to a judgment or decision, compared to when
      emotions are incidental.
    

Observational model: Other
Time perspective: Cross-Sectional
Sampling method: Non-Probability Sample
Study population: 
        Studies 1a-3: general sample, nominally healthy individuals, recruited via Amazon mTurk, US
        residents only (age 18+) Study 2: three types of samples: 1) general sample, nominally
        healthy individuals, recruited via Amazon mTurk, US residents only (age 18+); 2)
        individuals who have been diagnosed with cancer (cancer survivors); 3) individuals who have
        low self-reported health
      
Keywords: Emotion; Judgment; Decision Making