LAUSR

Cognitive theory and naturalistic decision-making models were utilized to examine the relationship between thoughts, behaviours, and emotions in daily decision-making. An experimental survey using vignettes examined the effects of investment of cognitive and behavioural effort in hypothetical vignettes on emotional responses to uncertain negative outcomes. For each vignette, this negative outcome was either surprising or distressing. Further, the type of uncertainty was an alteration, inclusion, or cancellation pertaining to the original vignette, yielding six conditions in the within-groups design. Participants (N = 335, 220 females) responded to each vignette by choosing a behavioural effort option (low or high), following which they elaborated the reason for their choice (high or low cognitive effort). They also responded to the predetermined negative outcome on an affective scale (emotional response). Results showed that (a) emotional responses to vignettes varied, based on the type of uncertainty in the scenario; (b) surprising outcomes elicited higher emotional distress; (c) behavioural effort positively predicted emotional distress when the type of uncertainty was alteration or inclusion; and (d) strategies involving high cognitive effort predicted investment of high behavioural effort in the vignette. Implications of examining behavioural, cognitive, and emotional processes leading to daily decisions are discussed in the context of coping with uncertainty.