Surprise – The role of negative affect in the switch from impulsive to reflective information processing

Abstract:

The Reflective Impulsive Model (RIM) holds that there are two different determinants of human behavior, which are impulsive (fast, efficient, associative) and reflective (slow, capacity-taking, propositional) information processing. Generally, human behavior and judgment is determined by an interaction of these two representational formats. However, in many instances there is a relative dominance of either impulsive (e.g., fast responses, intuitions) or reflective (e.g., calculating, information elaboration) processing, respectively. The present project aims at the psychological mechanism that mediates the switch between impulsive and reflective processing, which we argue to be negative affect during the confrontation with surprising events. As has been shown in previous research, impulsive influences (e.g., heuristic processing, creativity, intuitions, semantic spread) are weaker under negative compared to positive moods. The current research line applies this evidence on tonic moods to phasic negative affect. It is argued that surprising events are processed less efficiently, which triggers a brief negative affect eventually resulting in a switch from impulsive to reflective processing.