A structural model of emotions of cognitive dissonances
This addresses how emotions relate to cognitive dissonance in decision-making, but it is incremental as it applies an existing model to a specific context.
The study investigated whether the Circumplex model of affect can describe emotions in cognitive dissonance scenarios, finding that results from a questionnaire with 34 participants were compatible with the model's predictions.
Cognitive dissonance is the stress that comes from holding two conflicting thoughts simultaneously in the mind, usually arising when people are asked to choose between two detrimental or two beneficial options. In view of the well-established role of emotions in decision making, here we investigate whether the conventional structural models used to represent the relationships among basic emotions, such as the Circumplex model of affect, can describe the emotions of cognitive dissonance as well. We presented a questionnaire to 34 anonymous participants, where each question described a decision to be made among two conflicting motivations and asked the participants to rate analogically the pleasantness and the intensity of the experienced emotion. We found that the results were compatible with the predictions of the Circumplex model for basic emotions.