Shared emotions, interpersonal syntonization, and group decision-making: a multi-agent perspective

Abstract

Emotions across individual and group decision-makingGroup decision-making refers to the process of making decisions collectively, involving multiple individuals who work together to discuss, analyze, and choose among various alternatives.It plays a crucial role in many domains, including business, politics, organizations, and social interactions.Research has demonstrated that group decisionmaking can yield outcomes that are superior in quality and creativity compared to individual decision-making (Paulus and Nijstad, 2003).This is because groups offer diverse viewpoints, increased information pooling, and the potential for synergistic interactions.Here, we would like to point out how the complex process of group decision-making involves-in addition to common background knowledge, intentions, and joint actions-the coordination of multiple individuals' emotions and shared representations (Balconi and Fronda, 2020a), respectively understood as the complex integration of physiological reactions, subjective experience, and affective drives, and as jointly created and shared internal images (though not necessarily visual and often multimodal) of aspects of the external reality or related interpretations and abstractions (e.g., external objects/agents but also, as an example, mental states and behaviors).The notion that situated emotional responses can have an impact on, influence, and even forecast wise and advantageous decisions is-to date-considered a fact, with these responses representing a powerful tool for decision-making (Morelli et al., 2022).Embodied cognition models provide the background for such remarks, with the idea that emotions and, especially, physiological responses related to affective experience play a role as informational input for decision-making and other cognitive functions (Pace-Schott et al., 2019).Narrowing the focus to the positive and pivotal role of emotions in decision-making under risk, Slovic et al. (2004Slovic et al. ( , 2005) ) postulated the so-called "affect heuristic".Under this view, affects inform the process of distinguishing a stimulus's positive or negative connotation and the attribution of "goodness" or "badness" perceived as a feeling.Notably, such perceptions may occur both with and without consciousness.According to the authors, the feelings that emerge during a judgment or decision-making process rely on the characteristics of the person and the activity as well as on how these two factors interact, evoking emotion-laden representations.Since it is easier and more effective to use an overall, readily available affective impression in complex or resource-constrained situations, affect is here considered as a shortcut or a heuristic (Finucane et al., 2000).Nevertheless, the

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