COMPLEX DECISION-MAKING COULD BE FACILITATED BY SOCIAL MODULATION THROUGH REPETITION AND EMOTIONAL PRIMING

TOMÁS ALVES SALGUEIRO; FRANCO AGUSTÍN BERNAL; AXEL BRZOSTOWSKI; AYELÉN CARAMÉS; EMILIO RECART; DAMIÁN FURMAN; JUAN MANUEL PÉREZ; PABLO NICOLÁS FERNÁNDEZ LARROSA

Simposio; 9th MBB Symposium 2022; 2022

Max Planck Institute

Introduction: Some decision-making (DM) processes require quick answers, while more complex decisions demand greater cognitive engagement. Under the hypothesis that frequent exposure to a stimulus (repetition priming) or its association with an emotional valence (emotional priming) could drive DM, online experiments were conducted. Methods: Cognitive experiments involved a computer task where participants had to choose a face from 4 options, each of them was associated with different frequencies (EXP#1) or with positive, negative, neutral, or mixed sentences (EXP#2). Two experimental groups were assessed: the 1st group was asked to choose a face without any specification (NST); and the 2nd one for an important task (IT). To compare results in a more ecological situation (Social Study), online social surveys were conducted during the 2019 Argentine Presidential Elections, as well as written media news were scraped to assess each candidate's mention frequency and sentiment analysis. Results: Results show: 1. The most repeated face was significantly more chosen in the NST group, involving significantly greater response time; 2. The faces with a positive association were significantly more chosen than others, in both groups; and 3. The effect persisted at least for 24hs. In the case of the Social Study, Familiarity(F), Trust(T), and Voting Probability(VP) were estimated for each candidate from the surveys, as well as the main means used by the participants to inform themselves about the candidates. T and F mostly explain the VP variance; in a cross-analysis between variables and fordifferent candidates, T was found to correlate better (than F) with VP but both were significant in most analyses. Besides, F, T, and VP for each candidate correlate significantly with the frequency of mentions, the positive association, and election results. Discussion: These results support our hypothesis and suggest that complex decision-making susceptibility to repetition or emotional priming could depend on the relevance of the involved task.