INTENSE EMOTIONS AND DECISION MAKING 1

The Association Between Intense Emotions and Decision-Making Ability of Police Officers

Jalen Smith

Department of Professional Psychology, Chestnut Hill College

PSYG 828: Cognitive and Affective Bases of Behavior

Dr. Joshua Fetterman

03/31/2023

The Association Between Intense Emotions and Decision-Making Ability of Police Officers

Intense emotions
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Intense emotions can occur at any time and can force us to respond in different ways

depending on the individual. Deng et al. (2016) investigated gender differences in both

emotional experience and expressivity. The authors found that women reported higher levels of

arousal compared to men when watching videos that brought up feelings of anger, amusement,

and pleasure (Deng et al., 2016). Furthermore, the authors found that men experienced more

intense emotional experiences, while women demonstrated having a higher level of emotional

expressivity (Deng et al., 2016). A separate study by Gentzler and colleagues (2010) explored

the emotional reactions and regulatory responses to negative and positive events finding that

there was a positive association between anxiety and intense immediate negative reaction.

Additionally, the authors found that increased levels of anxiety and avoidance were associated

with more minimizing of an event and minimizing of ones response (Gentzler et al., 2010).

Bowen (1966) himself acknowledged that in times of increased anxiety, one's emotional reaction

is increased which often results from a combination of emotion, feelings, and intelligence.

Therefore, the literature has repeatedly demonstrated that situations can induce intense emotions

and feelings, like anger or anxiety, that spur behavior like avoidance or other types of reactions.

Decision making

In the midst of coping and dealing with intense emotions, humans must act or in other

words make decisions that then lead to action. As it has always been important to understand

why humans behave in the manner that they do, researchers have studied factors that influence

the decisions that we make. Dietrich (2010) noted that variables like past experience, escalation

of commitment, belief in personal relevance, and individual differences are influential factors

that impact our decision-making ability. For example, past experience was highlighted as a

variable that impacts decision making because the experiences of the past give us a framework
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with how to proceed in the future (Dietrich, 2010). Furthermore, escalation of commitment was

found to be a factor that influences decisions as individuals may feel pressured to ‘double down’

on a risky decision because of the felt responsibility of the choice they selected (Dietrich, 2010).

Personal relevance also influenced decision making as it was shown that when a person is

invested in a decision, because that decision matters to them, that person is more likely to make a

decision. To add, Dietrich (2010) highlighted that individual differences (e.g. age, SES,

cognitive abilities, etc.) may also influence decision making such that certain individuals may

appreciate less options in choice and certain individuals may experience a decline in decision

making ability based on age or mental status. Overall, research has indicated that certain factors

play a role in humans’ ability to make decisions which has been integral in gaining a deeper

perspective into the reasons behind the choices that people make.

Research about decision making has not only centered on factors that influence decisions,

but also on the mental processes that enable efficient decision making. Heuristics are an

approach to problem solving or decision making that play a critical role because heuristics

decrease the time with which a person comes to a conclusion (Dale, 2015). Moreover, heuristics,

mental shortcuts, utilized throughout time have enabled humans the ability to increase their

chance of survival (Dale, 2015). Although heuristics have the potential to speed up decision

making, errors can still occur which can manifest as biased judgements (Dale, 2015). In his paper

on heuristics and biases, Dale (2015) discussed certain heuristics that are important to consider

for the purposes of this paper. For example, he detailed how the availability heuristic’s premise

is that a person will rely on information that is currently available instead of taking time to delve

into alternatives. Additionally, Dale (2015) discussed how the representative heuristic can help

humans make a decision using previously stored information based on that human’s mental
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stereotypes. Moreover, the base rate heuristic was described as a mental shortcut that can allow a

person to come to a decision based on the probability of an event (Dale, 2015). An additional

important heuristic mentioned by Dale (2015) was called the affect heuristic which is a mental

shortcut that utilizes emotions to spur decisions, sort of like a gut feeling. The mental processes

that aid in decision making (heuristics) and the biases associated with these mental shortcuts are

important to study in depth because of the ramifications that could potentially surface based on

errors that a person makes utilizing them.

The consequences of biases and heuristics as it relates to decision making must be

considered at length. Blumenthal-Barby (2016) concluded that biases and heuristics may

decrease a person’s autonomy as that person’s understanding of the result of their actions may be

distorted by this way of shortcut thinking. An example of this distortion of thought was

highlighted as optimism bias wherein people mistakenly believe that they do not have problems

or concerns that should in fact be attended to (Blumenthal-Barby, 2016). Dale (2015) also

mentioned how biases negatively influenced decision making by providing an example wherein

people ranked the most feared ways to die and showed that six of the top 10 results were some of

the most unlikely causes of death; an example of availability heuristic bias. Furthermore, biases

in the representative heuristic were also shown to lead to stereotypes where humans over rely on

information patterns because we ignore other factors that could also influence the chance or

likelihood of an event happening (Dale, 2015). Therefore, while heuristics allow us to potentially

save an enormous amount of time and energy, the faults of this decision making process could

lend one to make mistakes in judgment that far outweigh the benefits it is meant to acquire.

Emotion and cognition (decision making)

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The connection between emotion and intellect has been studied for decades if not for

millennia. Evidence of this connection being studied and pondered came when Bowen asserted

that the emotional and intellectual systems are connected and in contact with one another (1966).

Although many researchers and authors alike believe that there is a connection between emotion

and intellect, these same professionals disagree on the influence of one construct over the other.

Smagorinsky (2021) examined both sides of the argument, finding Vygotsky’s premise, “a

person should be in control of emotions and not let them overtake rational thought” to have

considerable weight. That is not to say that Smagorinsky did not lend credit to the opposing side

of thought that people have the potential to respond to situations with deep, gut-level feelings

even in the face of cold logical cognition (2021). Smagorinsky’s paper demonstrates that the

field is far past considering emotion and cognition as being separate from one another, a basic

premise of dual systems theory, however, how the two remain connected and the positions they

hold with each other remains hotly debated (Lempert and Phelps, p. 98-112, 2016; Smagorinsky,

2021).

In keeping with the association between emotion and cognition, Lerner et al. (2015)

discussed how emotions can be both beneficial and harmful mechanisms for decision-making.

To aid in the discussion of how emotions can be mechanisms for decision-making, the authors

introduced eight themes. Of particular importance was the theme that states that emotions can

shape decisions via goal activation. The basis of this theme is that certain emotions (e.g. anger,

sadness, etc.) trigger humans to try to reach for certain goals (e.g. change the situation, seek

rewards, etc.) through their behavioral responses (Lerner et al., 2015). An additional theme

provided by Lerner and his colleagues (2015) was that emotions influence interpersonal decision

making. This theme stressed that emotions can function to assist people in understanding other
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people’s emotions, incentivize or impose a cost on other’s behavior, and evoke complementary,

reciprocal, or shared emotions in others which overall aids in the decision-making process for

everyone involved (Lerner et al., 2015). In sum, Lerner et al. (2015) were able to conclude that

emotions can be mechanisms through which decisions are made with some specific emotions

influencing judgements more than others.

Police officer’s decision-making abilities during intense situations

The Washington Post records that, on average, more than 1,000 people are shot and killed

by police every year in the United States (Washington Post, 2022). Often the primary purpose of

law enforcement is to de-escalate situations and determine what courses of action will lead to the

most favorable outcome. Hence, navigating intense situations and making important judgment

calls are incredibly important. Similar to Bowen's assertion that there is a connection between the

emotional and intellectual system, Fridman et al. (2019) posited that decisions made by police

officers include factors like affectively driven perceptual effects, the current bodily state of the

officer, prior experiences in similar contexts, etc. Furthermore, Fridman and his colleagues

(2019) detailed how unlike other individuals in society, police officers must manage their

affective states going against biological impulses as pressured by society and their professional

world to do so.

Sweeney (2022) himself was also able to draw connections between emotion (i.e.

amygdala containing fear memories), cognition (i.e. prefrontal cortex guiding thought, attention,

and action), decision making tactics (i.e. heuristics), and stress/trauma (i.e. acute stress impairs

working memory and cognitive abilities of the prefrontal cortex) that could play a factor in the

behaviors and work that police officers do. Repeatedly balancing decisions in stressful situations
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as well as pressures from multiple entities has been found to take a toll on police officers

physically (i.e. cardiovascular disease, nightmares, etc.) and mentally (i.e. PTSD, police suicides,

etc.) (Fridman et al., 2019). Hence, the overall consensus is that decision making (the situation

and the general outcome of the situation) may be met with more dire consequences which could

further impact the police officer’s physical and psychological well-being.

In light of the knowledge of how decision making can impact a police officer, additional

research has been conducted about judgment and decision making with the expressed purpose of

designing policies and trainings to assist police officers in this area. Harman and his colleagues

(2019) detailed how we as humans rarely grasp the entire scope of risks associated with possible

outcomes especially when we are encountering a situation we have experienced previously. To

add, the authors of this paper also found that fear can influence decision making as fear has been

associated with increased processing of aversive information, while also being found to improve

response inhibition (Harman et al., 2019). The influence of fear on decision making was

particularly important for police officers because the context of a situation could potentially

condition a fear response (Harman et al., 2019). For example, previous literature found that

participants were more likely to decide to shoot in a neighborhood that was perceived to be more

threatening than compared to a neighborhood that was perceived to be safer. Based on previous

research that demonstrated that human perception of risk might be influenced by actual

experienced past outcomes and by the outcomes of other individuals, Harman et al. (2019)

encouraged police agencies to consider creating repeated experiences of positive outcomes in

training for the purpose of reducing error rates.

With all of the information about intense emotions, decision making, and the interaction

between the two for police officers, a hypothesis has been formulated. The study will be
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correlational in design. The hypothesis reads: There will be a strong, positive correlation

between the intensity of a situation (which causes intense emotions to arise like fear or anger)

and type of heuristic usage. In other words, as the intensity of a situation increases (potentially

impairing working memory and prefrontal cortex), police officers will increase use of certain

heuristics (availability heuristic, affect heuristic, base rate heuristic). The most intense situation

will positively correlate most highly with the affect heuristic. The second most intense situation

will positively correlate most highly with the base rate heuristic. Finally, the last prediction is

that the least most intense situation will positively correlate most highly with the availability

heuristic.

Methods

Participants

Participants will be law enforcement officers from various law enforcement agencies. The law

enforcement officers will need to have completed training and been on the force for at least two

years. Additionally, law enforcement officers will need to have at least two years of experience

in the field to participate. Law enforcement officers who have not had at least two consecutive

years of experience in the field will be excluded from the study. Furthermore, the study will

require participants who are still currently active in the field (on a full-time basis). Therefore,

certain law enforcement officers (e.g. chief of police, police exclusively engaging in clerical

work for more than one month, police on administrative leave, etc.) will be excluded from the

study. Recruitment will occur through contact with police station administration. Initial contact

will be made to the supervisors and higher ups which will consist of providing information about

the study. If the supervisors agree to recruitment of the study for their particular precinct, a

recruitment email will be sent to all current law enforcement officers of that precinct. Therefore,
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the study will utilize purposive sampling to obtain the sample of participants. Individuals who

consent to participate in the study will be entered into a raffle to win one of twenty $10 Amazon

gift cards.

Measures

The covariables utilized in this study will consist of heuristic type (e.g. availability, affect, base

rate) and intensity of the situation (e.g. minimally intense, moderately intense, highly intense).

Examples of differences in intensity of situation are as follows: An officer gets a call about an

elderly person who refuses to get off the toilet (minimally intense), an officer gets a call that

some friends have recently begun a street fist fight (moderately intense), and an officer gets a

call about a hostage situation taking place with multiple hostages injured (highly intense).

Additional scenarios that follow comparable amounts of intensity (e.g. cat stuck in tree vs. car

accident that is fender bender vs. person threatening to jump off a bridge) will be provided to

police officers to review and rate.

Procedures

The study will first obtain informed consent from all participants who have elected to participate.

Once informed consent has been obtained, participants will receive a questionnaire through

email from Survey Monkey with the items included. The Survey Monkey Questionnaire will

introduce and provide a description of the heuristic terms (e.g. availability heuristic- relying on

the information currently available; affect heuristic- relying on emotions ‘gut’; base rate

heuristic- relying on knowledge of probability of event occurring). Participants will then review

12 different scenarios that differ in intensity and be asked to select which heuristic (decision

making method) they believe is most appropriate for each scenario. The option to not select any
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heuristic for a particular scenario will be available, however, selecting the heuristic options listed

will be strongly encouraged. Once a participant has selected his or her answers for all 12

scenarios, or opted to terminate the survey prematurely, they will be taken to a debriefing page.

The debriefing page will include: the purpose of my study, a description of my hypothesis, what

results are expected to be found, resources that can be utilized should someone need them (e.g.

crisis), and the contact information for myself and my supervisor should any participant wish to

contact us with questions or concerns.

References
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Blumenthal-Barby, J. S. (2016). Biases and heuristics in decision making and their impact on

autonomy. The American Journal of Bioethics, 16(5), 5-15.

Bowen, M. (1966). The use of family theory in clinical practice. Comprehensive Psychiatry,

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Dale, S. (2015). Heuristics and biases: The science of decision-making. Business Information

Review, 32(2), 93-99.

Deng, Y., Chang, L., Yang, M., Huo, M., & Zhou, R. (2016). Gender differences in emotional

response: Inconsistency between experience and expressivity. PloS one, 11(6), e0158666.

Dietrich, C. (2010). Decision making: Factors that influence decision making, heuristics used,

and decision outcomes. Inquiries Journal, 2(02).

Fridman, J., Barrett, L. F., Wormwood, J. B., & Quigley, K. S. (2019). Applying the theory of

constructed emotion to police decision making. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 1946.

Gentzler, A. L., Kerns, K. A., & Keener, E. (2010). Emotional reactions and regulatory

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Harman, J. L., Zhang, D., & Greening, S. G. (2019). Basic processes in dynamic decision

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to police decision making. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 2140.

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Lempert, K. M., & Phelps, E. A. (2016). Affect in economic decision making. Handbook of

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Lerner, J. S., Li, Y., Valdesolo, P., & Kassam, K. S. (2015). Emotion and decision making.

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W. P. (2022, December 5). Police shootings database 2015-2023: Search by race, age,

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Wolpe, J. (1969). The practice of behavior therapy. New York, NY: Pergamon Press.