Do Emotions Help or Hurt Decisionmaking?: A Hedgefoxian Perspective

9. Emotion Regulation and Impluse Control: People Succumb to Their Impulses in Order to Feel Better

• 9 • Emotion Regulation and Impulse Control: People Succumb to Their Impulses In Order to Feel Better MATTHEW T. GAILLIOT AND DIANNE M. TICE ONE WAY in which emotions can affect decisions is by making people think and behave irrationally. In this view, emotion is the direct opposite of reason, causing people to make all sorts of bad decisions. For example, when people are jealous, they may commit crimes of passion, and when they are angry, they express road rage (Loewenstein 1996). Hence, in this view, emotion may lead directly to maladaptive decision making. Another view is that emotions are beneficial to decision making. In this view, people make better, more adaptive decisions because of their emotions. For example, after losing one’s money while gambling, a person may feel sad or upset and choose to quit gambling as a result (Damasio 1994). Thus, emotions may sometimes cause people to behave more rationally. Though emotions can influence decision making directly (for example, fear might make a person decide to run away from danger), they might also influence decision making indirectly (see also Baumeister, DeWall, and Zhang, chapter 1, this volume; Andrade and Cohen, chapter 2, this volume). For example, efforts to change one’s mood may influence decision making, and thus emotion regulation, rather than emotions, might 203 sometimes affect decisions (see also Rawn et al., chapter 7, this volume). Considering research on self-regulation, goal pursuit, and impulse control , evidence shows that people sometimes make decisions which undermine their long-term goals in an effort to make themselves feel better in the short term. In other words, people sometimes give priority to regulating their emotions and feeling better in the short term rather than pursuing their long term goals. The Importance and Difficulty of Impulse Control The ability to control one’s impulses and delay gratification in the pursuit of long-term goals is a vital capacity. To succeed, people must often exert self-control. For example, to succeed academically, one must study and refrain from partying. To maintain a healthy marriage, spouses must refrain from yelling at each other and must instead treat each other kindly. To avoid breaking the law or being incarcerated, one must resist speeding and must obey the speed limit, and one must resist aggressing against others—even idiots—and instead must keep one’s temper in check. Likewise, a variety of evidence demonstrates numerous benefits experienced by those who capably exert self-control and control their impulses. Compared to people less able to exert self-control, people who are good at self-control experience greater interpersonal popularity, healthier relationships , perform better at school, cope better with stress, and maintain better mental health (Finkel and Campbell 2001; Mischel, Shoda, and Peake 1988; Shoda, Mischel, and Peake 1990). They more capably avoid such self-indulgent behaviors as overspending, overeating, drinking too much alcohol, and abusing drugs (Kahan, Polivy, and Herman 2003; Muraven, Collins, and Neinhaus 2002; Tangney, Baumeister, and Boone 2004; Vohs and Faber 2004; Vohs and Heatherton 2000). They also more effectively resist impulses to aggress, break the law, and engage in inappropriate or harmful sexual behaviors (DeWall et al. forthcoming; Gailliot and Baumeister 2007; Gottfredson and Hirschi 1990; Pratt and Cullen 2000). Thus the ability to control one’s impulses is highly adaptive and beneficial. Emotional Distress and Failures in Impulse Control Despite the importance of impulse control, people oftentimes fail to control their impulses (Baumeister, Heatherton, and Tice 1994). Failures in dieting, smoking cessation, sexual restraint, money management, and 204 Do Emotions Help or Hurt Decision Making? alcohol and substance abuse are relatively frequent. If impulse control is so important, why are failures in impulse control so common? One reason is that people’s goals are often in conflict. In particular, short-term goals often conflict with long-term goals. A compulsive shopper may strongly desire to purchase a new outfit, and such a short-term goal may very well provide temporary enjoyment. Yet the compulsive shopper may be in debt and cannot afford to purchase the outfit, and so his or her long-term goals require resisting such a purchase. In this instance, the short-term goal (that is, purchasing the outfit) conflicts directly with the long-term goal (that is, saving money and getting out of debt). To achieve long-term goals, one must forgo immediate gratification and deny oneself the pleasure obtained via satisfying short-term goals. Impulse...