{
  "title": "Consequential decisions: when an unrelated emotion influences judgement",
  "url": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/intelligence-emotionnelle-emotion-passagere-decision-engageante-en",
  "language": "en",
  "datePublished": "2026-02-16",
  "publisher": {
    "name": "SHR — Swiss Human Resources",
    "url": "https://www.shr.swiss",
    "address": "Esplanade de Pont-Rouge 9A, 1212 Lancy, Suisse"
  },
  "summary": "An emotion can influence a decision without having been caused by it. Research encourages us to examine that influence rather than simply treating emotion and rationality as opposites.",
  "section": "Research",
  "topic": "Emotional Intelligence",
  "place": {
    "name": "Lugano",
    "region": "Tessin",
    "country": "CH"
  },
  "keyPoints": [
    {
      "heading": "What the literature establishes",
      "point": "Jennifer Lerner, Deborah Small and George Loewenstein (2004, Psychological Science) demonstrated experimentally that emotions induced before a transaction, and unrelated to it, can alter the prices at which participants are willing to buy or sell."
    },
    {
      "heading": "The mechanism: an emotion also changes how a situation is interpreted",
      "point": "Jennifer Lerner and Dacher Keltner (2001, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology) show that fear and anger, although both unpleasant, are associated with different judgements of risk."
    },
    {
      "heading": "The premature conclusion",
      "point": "One might conclude that people should wait until they feel nothing before making a decision."
    },
    {
      "heading": "The limits of the evidence and of familiar practices",
      "point": "These studies are not trials of decision-making procedures in banks or family businesses."
    },
    {
      "heading": "A practical check in Lugano",
      "point": "As part of SHR’s “[Emotional Intelligence](/formation/intelligence-emotionnelle/lugano)” programme, a bank, fashion company, trading firm or Italian-speaking family SME in Lugano could test a short decision form in Italian for a predefined category of purchases."
    }
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "authors": "Loewenstein",
      "year": "2004",
      "source": "Psychological Science"
    },
    {
      "authors": "Keltner",
      "year": "2001",
      "source": "Journal of Personality and Social Psychology"
    }
  ],
  "wordCount": 442,
  "image": "https://www.shr.swiss/img/blog-editorial-2026-02-16-en.jpg?v=4",
  "translations": {
    "fr": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/intelligence-emotionnelle-emotion-passagere-decision-engageante",
    "en": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/intelligence-emotionnelle-emotion-passagere-decision-engageante-en",
    "de": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/intelligence-emotionnelle-emotion-passagere-decision-engageante-de",
    "it": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/intelligence-emotionnelle-emotion-passagere-decision-engageante-it"
  },
  "relatedPages": {
    "programme": "https://www.shr.swiss/formation/intelligence-emotionnelle/lugano",
    "city": "https://www.shr.swiss/formations-ville/lugano",
    "blog": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog"
  },
  "citationPolicy": "Citation autorisée avec mention « SHR — Swiss Human Resources » et lien vers l'article."
}