How do our feelings impact the romantic judgments and decisions we make? In a speed-dating context, where people have to judge potential romantic partners sequentially, we investigated whether and how participants’ prior affective state guided romantic desire toward and actual choice for an interaction partner. We found evidence for contrast effects, meaning that romantic judgments contrasted with the affective states participants were in at the start of a new interaction. The more positive (excited, interested, or happy) participants felt after one interaction partner, the less attracted they were toward a new interaction partner, and the more negative they felt (irritated or bored), the more attracted they were. The effect of negative emotions (NEs) was primarily visible in men, for whom more prior NEs even increased the chance of choosing an interaction partner at the end of the evening. The effect of positive emotions (PEs), however, had faded away when people chose their date at the end. Additional analyses revealed that specific emotions showed differential effects on romantic desire and actual choice and that contrast effects were mediated but not fully explained (at least in the case of PEs) by desire toward the previous interaction partner.
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