The Effect of Visual Illusion and Emotional States on Financial Information Analysis and Biased Decision Making

The purpose of the present study is to review the effect of visual illusion and different emotional states on financial information analysis and biased decision making.
The research is practical, descriptive, and semi-experimental. The statistical population consisted of postgraduates in accounting among whom 198 members were chosen as a sample. For results analysis, ANOVA was used and for the interpretation of the difference between the averages of groups, Post-Hoc of LSD (least significant difference) was applied.
The financial information displayed through 3-dimensional graphic without network lines creates visual illusion and would decrease the accuracy of data analysis by those who read them. Moreover, the results of the study showed that different emotional states (happy/sad) have a significant impact on the students' decision making. The students who had normal emotional states made less-biased decisions compared to the students who had abnormal emotional states.
The research results showed that the financial information displayed through3-dimensional graphics without network lines creates visual illusion and would decrease the accuracy of data analysis by those who read them and lead to bias in decision making. However, by putting network lines on the diagram, the bias can be decreased. Furthermore, the research results revealed that when people experience a normal and stable emotional state, they can make proper decisions whereas they are incapable of appropriate decision making when in abnormal states.