Can Teaching Calculation and Estimation Strategies Improve Financial Decision-Making? The Role of Emotions and Deliberation

Financial decision-making often involves numerical reasoning. For example, monetary lotteries—a common task in economic psychology—require evaluating payoffs and probabilities. To make decisions consistent with normative standards like Expected Value (EV), individuals must accurately perform calculations. However, many people lack objective numeracy or numeric self-efficacy, which limits their ability to make EV-consistent choices and maximize earnings.This study tested whether brief interventions could enhance financial decision-making and emotional responses during such tasks. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: Control, Calculation, or Estimation. In the Control condition, participants made choices in ten monetary lotteries. In the Calculation condition, they received instructions on how to compute EV before the task. In the Estimation condition, they were additionally trained in estimation strategies to simplify calculations.Results indicated marginal effects of the interventions on both EV-consistent choices and negative emotional reactions. Planned comparisons showed that participants in the Calculation condition made significantly more EV-consistent choices than those in the Control condition. Notably, deliberation time—but not emotional reactions—mediated the relationship between condition and EV-consistent choices. Participants in the Calculation condition spent more time deliberating, which contributed to better decision-making.In summary, the findings provide evidence that teaching EV calculation can improve financial decision-making by promoting deliberation. While the interventions had limited effects, they suggest that even brief educational strategies may support more rational economic choices.