Asymmetric Anticipatory Emotions and Economic Preferences: Dread, Savoring, Risk, and Time
Dawson and Johnson study dread at the thought of future losses and savouring of future pleasure. Using economic survey data to estimate individual differences, they find that the displeasure from anticipating future losses tends to outweigh the pleasure from anticipating equal gains. People whose anticipatory emotions are more strongly asymmetric are more risk-avoidant, because they get more disutility from contemplating downside risk, and more impatient. The paper relates these asymmetries to key economic preferences.
Dawson and Johnson study dread at the thought of future losses and savouring of future pleasure. Using economic survey data to estimate individual differences, they find that the displeasure from anticipating future losses tends to outweigh the pleasure from anticipating equal gains. People whose anticipatory emotions are more strongly asymmetric are more risk-avoidant, because they get more disutility from contemplating downside risk, and more impatient. The paper relates these asymmetries to key economic preferences.
Written from the abstract as shown on the OpenAlex record, read 2026-11-04.
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Dawson, C., & Johnson, S. G. B. (2026). Asymmetric Anticipatory Emotions and Economic Preferences: Dread, Savoring, Risk, and Time. Cognitive Science, 50(1), e70160. doi:10.1111/cogs.70160.