Skorick 2005), it seems plausible that inducing anger will increase the propensity for an
aggressive policy.
Therefore,
we hypothesize that:
H4. Compared to a neutral emotional condition, subjects in a negative emotion (in
particular anger) will be more likely to select the use of force option.
It should be emphasized that the above hypotheses focus on the effects of the emotions
on the process and choice without considering the particular thematic trigger of these emotions
(e.g., terror vs. traffic causes). Hence, of particular interest is whether these triggers alter these
effects. Based on the findings of the previous experiments, especially in the American
replication, it is plausible to expect that the results of the thematic unrelated source (the traffic
accident) will be similar to the control condition (no direct emotive trigger) and both these
conditions will be different from the consequences of the terror incident. Alternatively, the
notion of the functional autonomy of emotions would suggest a similarity in the effects following
both triggers and dissimilarity to the control condition.
Method of the Second Experiment
General:
We utilize a computerized process tracing technique -- DecTracer (Geva, et al 2005) --which
presents written, audio, and visual information in a controlled setting while recording subjects’
decision behavior. For each participant, the DecTracer records the number and type of items
accessed, the decision made, and the amount of time taken to make the decision.
To test our hypotheses, the experiment was designed around a hypothetical scenario on
the surge of terrorism in Israel that target Americans and the US interests.
exposed to the scenario for which they would be asked to choose between two policy options
they think the US should employ in this case. These options consisted of evacuating all
American interests from the area and military targeting of terror headquarters and infrastructures
in the area. Then, to induce negative emotions, one-third of the participants were exposed to a
video-clip that showed footage from a bus bombing and one-third of the participants were
exposed to a video-clip on a traffic accident.
The remaining participants were not exposed to
any video-clip. Then subjects were able to acquire as many items of information they need to
make their choice.
Participants:
8
This is the context scenario that we used in the American replication of the previous experiments.
9
These were the video clips we used in the previous experiment.
14
Convention