Residual Romantic Attachments influence Decisions under Uncertainty

Millions of breakups occur annually around the world, yet little is known about how they influence a key process of human cognition: value-based decision-making under uncertainty. Across two studies, we investigated how lingering romantic attachment to an ex-partner affects value-based decision-making under different types of uncertainty (future-oriented versus probabilistic). In Study 1 (N=144), we showed that stronger romantic attachment to an ex-partner led to making riskier decisions under affective influence, resulting in suboptimal decisions that accumulated to indirect costs exceeding $50 during an hour-long experiment. In Study 2 (N = 419), we found that stronger residual feelings toward an ex-partner are associated with steeper devaluation of future rewards. Specifically, individuals who struggled to move on from a breakup discounted future rewards such that their value diminished by half approximately two weeks earlier than those less attached. These findings may have practical implications for informing relationship counseling and economic policy, as nearly half of those who experience a breakup in the past year may be significantly affected, potentially perceiving future-oriented investments (e.g., monetary savings) as less desirable than those who have moved on.