Preferences for separating or combining events.
This research investigates people's preferences for temporally separating or combining emotionally impactful events. For instance, do people prefer to experience 2 negative events (e.g., manuscript rejections) on the same day or on different days? Do people prefer to experience 2 positive events (e.g., manuscript acceptances) on the same or different days? This article proposes a renewable resources model that combines elements of decision-making models (prospect theory) with the notion that people possess limited but renewable physiological, cognitive, and social resources for dealing with emotionally impactful events. As predicted, Ss preferred to separate 2 positive events (the gain-savoring hypothesis), to separate 2 negative events (the multiple-loss-avoidance hypothesis), and to combine a positive and a negative event (the loss-buffering hypothesis). Ss displayed identical preferences for events from the academic, financial, and social domains.
Linville
P W
PW
Center for Decision Studies, Fuqua School of Business, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27706.
Fischer
G W
GW
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D001290:Attitude; D003657:Decision Making; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D013997:Time Factors