Guilt emotion and decision-making under uncertainty

• Published in: Frontiers in psychology Vol. 16; p. 1518752
• Main Authors: Gangemi, Amelia, Rizzotto, Chiara, Riggio, Febronia, Dahò, Margherita, Mancini, Francesco
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland Frontiers Media S.A 2025
• Subjects: anger; decision under uncertainty; framing effect; guilt; moral emotions; guilt; framing effect; decision under uncertainty; moral emotions; anger
• ISSN: 1664-1078; 1664-1078
• DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1518752

This paper examines the impact of moral emotions, such as guilt, on decisions under risk. In two experiments, we demonstrated that guilt emotion influences preferences for risky and riskless choices, depending on the subject’s moral goal, i.e., reparation or expiation, whereas anger consistently elicits a preference for taking risks. Unlike other moral emotions (e.g., anger), guilt is thus not characterized by a fixed preference for either risky or riskless choices. Preferences vary as a function of the option that may satisfy the moral goal, instead of by a form of bias that the different emotions play toward decisions under risk. Finally, in both experiments, responses appear to be based on the framing of the decision problem according to the induced emotional state (guilt or anger), rather than on the descriptions of the outcomes as given in the options (gain-loss framing effect).