The Role of Affect in Intended Rule Breaking: Extending the Rational Choice Perspective

Objectives: Through a mood induction procedure, we prime positive, negative, or a neutral affective state and examine its effect on intentions to cheat on an examand drinking and driving. Method: University students served as subjects for the study. They were provided with a questionnaire that randomized a mood induction procedure. Respondents were asked to recall (1) a recent positive event or experience, (2) a recent negative event or experience, or (3) their favorite books. They then completed a questionnaire that asked about their current mood state and got their responses to two hypothetical crime scenarios-cheating on an exam and drinking and driving. They were also asked questions pertaining to perceived risk, their decision-making style, impulsivity, and confidence. Results: We found that those experiencing an intense positive mood state were generally less likely to report that they would cheat or drive drunk relative to the negative and neutral state. However, we found little support for the suggested mediating causal mechanisms. Conclusions: Affective states milder than emotions are related to intentions to commit acts that are in the long-term harmful and go against self-interest. The relationship between affect states and criminal decision making can benefit from additional research.