Abstract
Previous studies have examined the effects of discrete emotions on risk taking. One unstudied question in this literature involves comparisons of multiple discrete emotions, not limited to two (e.g., anger vs. sadness, anger vs. fear) on the same risky judgment and decision making (JDM) task. This study examined the effects of five different discrete emotions on the same risky JDM task assessing risk propensities. Anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness and a neutral condition were elicited in participants (N = 307 university students participating in partial fulfilment of course requirements) using a standard emotion eliciting procedure, after which they completed a self-report measure of risk propensities. Elicitation of a neutral state produced the lowest risk scores, while being emotionally elevated in general increased risk scores. Importantly, the emotions produced differential degrees of risk propensities with sadness producing the highest risk. These findings were discussed vis-à-vis differential functions of different discrete emotions.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Barke, A., Stahl, J., & Kröner-Herwig, B. (2012). Identifying a subset of fear-evoking pictures from the IAPS on the basis of dimensional and categorical ratings for a German sample. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 43(1), 565–572. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbtep.2011.07.006.
Birrell, J., Meares, K., Wilkinson, A., & Freeston, M. (2011). Toward a definition of intolerance of uncertainty: A review of factor analytical studies of the Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale. Clinical Psychology Review, 31(7), 1198–1208. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2011.07.009.
Blais, A.-R., & Weber, E. U. (2006). A domain-specific risk-taking (DOSPERT) scale for adult populations. Judgment and Decision Making, 1(1), 33–47. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1301089.
Buhr, K., & Dugas, M. J. (2002). The intolerance of uncertainty scale: psychometric properties of the English version. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 40(8), 931–945. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0005-7967(01)00092-4.
Camerer, C. (2003). Behavioral game theory: Experiments in strategic interaction. Princeton University Press.
Carleton, R. N., Norton, M. A. P. J., & Asmundson, G. J. G. (2007). Fearing the unknown: A short version of the Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 21(1), 105–117. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2006.03.014.
Carver, C. S., & White, T. L. (1994). Behavioral inhibition, behavioral activation, and affective responses to impending reward and punishment: The BIS/BAS Scales. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67(2), 319–333. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.67.2.319.
Cosmides, L., & Tooby, J. (2000). Evolutionary psychology and the emotions. In M. Lewis & J. M. Haviland-Jones (Eds.), Handbook of emotions (2nd ed., pp. 91–115). Guilford Press.
Cryder, C. E., Lerner, J. S., Gross, J. J., & Dahl, R. E. (2008). Misery Is Not Miserly: Sad and Self-Focused Individuals Spend More. Psychological Science, 19(6), 525–530. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02118.x.
Dickason, Z., & Ferreira, S. (2018). Establishing a link between risk tolerance, investor personality and behavioural finance in South Africa. Cogent Economics & Finance, 6(1), 1519898. https://doi.org/10.1080/23322039.2018.1519898.
Dorison, C. A., Wang, K., Rees, V. W., Kawachi, I., Ericson, K. M. M., & Lerner, J. S. (2020). Sadness, but not all negative emotions, heightens addictive substance use. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(2), 943–949. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1909888116.
Ekman, P. (1999). Basic emotions. In T. Dalgleish & T. Power (Eds.), The handbook of cognition and emotion (pp. 45–60). Wiley.
Ferrer, R. A., Maclay, A., Litvak, P. M., & Lerner, J. S. (2017). Revisiting the effects of anger on risk-taking: Empirical and meta-analytic evidence for differences between males and females. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 30(2), 516–526. https://doi.org/10.1002/bdm.1971.
Ferrer, R. A., Taber, J. M., Sheeran, P., Bryan, A. D., Cameron, L. D., Peters, E., Lerner, J. S., Grenen, E., & Klein, W. M. P. (2020). The role of incidental affective states in appetitive risk behavior: A meta-analysis. Health Psychology, 39(12), 1109–1124. https://doi.org/10.1037/hea0001019.
Fischhoff, B., Gonzalez, R. M., Lerner, J. S., & Small, D. A. (2012). Evolving judgments of terrori risks: Foresight, hindsight, and emotion: A reanalysis. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 18(2), e1–e18. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0027959.
Fredrickson, B. L. (2000). Cultivating positive emotions to optimize health and well-being. Prevention & Treatment, 3(1), No Pagination Specified-No Pagination Specified. https://doi.org/10.1037/1522-3736.3.1.31a.
Fredrickson, B. L. (2013). Chapter One - Positive Emotions Broaden and Build. In P. Devine & A. Plant (Eds.), Advances in Experimental Social Psychology (Vol. 47, pp. 1–53). Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-407236-7.00001-2.
Fredrickson, B. L., & Branigan, C. (2005). Positive emotions broaden the scope of attention and thought-action repertoires. Cognition & Emotion, 19(3), 313–332. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699930441000238.
Frijda, N. H., Kuipers, P., & ter Schure, E. (1989). Relations among emotion, appraisal, and emotional action readiness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57(2), 212–228. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.57.2.212.
Garg, N., & Lerner, J. S. (2013). Sadness and consumption. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 23(1), 106–113. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcps.2012.05.009.
Gest, S. D. (1997). Behavioral inhibition: Stability and associations with adaptation from childhood to early adulthood. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 72(2), 467–475. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.72.2.467.
Han, S., Lerner, J. S., & Zeckhauser, R. (2012). The disgust-promotes-disposal effect. Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, 44(2), 101–113. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11166-012-9139-3.
Highhouse, S., Nye, C. D., Zhang, D. C., & Rada, T. B. (2017). Structure of the dospert: Is there evidence for a general risk factor? Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 30(2), 400–406. https://doi.org/10.1002/bdm.1953.
Huppert, F. A., Baylis, N., Keverne, B., & Fredrickson, B. L. (2004). The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences, 359(1449), 1367–1377. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2004.1512.
Hwang, H. C., & Matsumoto, D. (2018). Functions of emotions. In R. Biswas-Diener & E. Diener (Eds.), Noba textbook series: Psychology. DEF Publishers. https://nobaproject.com/modules/functions-of-emotions.
Izard, C. E. (2007). Basic emotions, natural kinds, emotion schemas, and a new paradigm. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 2(3), 260–280.
Kahneman, D., & Tversky, A. (1979). Prospect theory: An analysis of decision under risk. Econometrica: Journal of the Econometric Society, 1(2), 263–291.
Keltner, D., & Haidt, J. (1999). Social functions of emotion at four levels of analysis. Cognition and Emotion, 13(5), 505–521. https://doi.org/10.1080/026999399379168.
Kok, B. E., Coffey, K. A., Cohn, M. A., Catalino, L. I., Vacharkulksemsuk, T., Algoe, S. B., Brantley, M., & Fredrickson, B. L. (2013). How Positive Emotions Build Physical Health: Perceived Positive Social Connections Account for the Upward Spiral Between Positive Emotions and Vagal Tone. Psychological Science, 24(7), 1123–1132. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797612470827.
Lang, P. J., Bradley, M. M., & Cuthbert, B. N. (1997). International Affective Picture System (IAPS): Technical Manual and Affective Ratings. NIMH Center for the Study of Emotion and Attention.
LeDoux, J. E. (2000). Emotion circuits in the brain. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 23, 155–184. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.neuro.23.1.155.
LeDoux, J. E., & Phelps, E. A. (2008). Emotional networks in the brain. In M. Lewis, J. M. Haviland-Jones, & L. Feldman Barrett (Eds.), Handbook of Emotions (3rd ed., pp. 159–179). The Guilford Press.
Lerner, J. S., & Keltner, D. (2000). Beyond valence: Toward a model of emotion-specific influences on judgement and choice. Cognition and Emotion, 14(4), 473–493. https://doi.org/10.1080/026999300402763.
Lerner, J. S., & Tiedens, L. Z. (2006). Portrait of the angry decision maker: How appraisal tendencies shape anger’s influence on cognition. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 19, 115–137. https://doi.org/10.1002/bdm.515.
Lerner, J. S., Gonzalez, R. M., Small, D. A., & Fischhoff, B. (2003). Effects of fear and anger on perceived risks of terrorism: A national field experiment. Psychological Science, 14(2), 144–150. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9280.01433.
Lerner, J. S., Li, Y., & Weber, E. U. (2013). The Financial Costs of Sadness. Psychological Science, 24(1), 72–79. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797612450302.
Lerner, J. S., Li, Y., Valdesolo, P., & Kassam, K. S. (2015). Emotion and decision making. Annual Review of Psychology, 66, 799–823. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-010213-115043.
Levenson, R. W. (1994). Human emotions: A functional view. In P. Ekman & R. J. Davidson (Eds.), The nature of emotion: Fundamental questions (pp. 17–42). Oxford University Press.
Levenson, R. W. (1999). The intrapersonal functions of emotion. Cognition and Emotion, 13(5), 481–504. https://doi.org/10.1080/026999399379159.
Libkuman, T. M., Otani, H., Kern, R., Viger, S. G., & Novak, N. (2007). Multidimensional normative ratings for the International Affective Picture System. Behavior Research Methods, 39(2), 326–334. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03193164.
Loewenstein, G., & Lerner, J. S. (2003). The role of affect in decision making. In R. J. Davidson, K. R. Scherer, & H. H. Goldsmith (Eds.), Handbook of affective sciences. Series in affective science (pp. 619–642). Oxford University Press.
Markiewicz, Ł, Muda, R., Kubińska, E., & Augustynowicz, P. (2020). An explanatory analysis of perceived risk decision weights (perceived-risk attitudes) and perceived benefit decision weights (perceived-benefit attitudes) in risk-value models. Journal of Risk Research, 23(6), 739–761. https://doi.org/10.1080/13669877.2019.1628089.
Matsumoto, D., & Hwang, H. C. (2013). Facial expressions. In D. Matsumoto, M. G. Frank, & H. S. Hwang (Eds.), Facial expressions (pp. 15–52). Sage.
Matsumoto, D., Kudoh, T., Scherer, K., & Wallbott, H. (1988). Antecedents of and reactions to emotions in the United States and Japan. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 19(3), 267–286. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022188193001.
Matsumoto, D., LeRoux, J. A., Ratzlaff, C., Tatani, H., Uchida, H., Kim, C., & Araki, S. (2001). Development and validation of a measure of intercultural adjustment potential in Japanese sojourners: The Intercultural Adjustment Potential Scale (ICAPS). International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 25, 483–510. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0147-1767(01)00019-0.
Matsumoto, D., Hwang, H. C., & Frank, M. G. (2014a). Emotions expressed by leaders in videos predict political aggression. Behavioral Sciences of Terrorism and Political Aggression, 6(3), 212–218. https://doi.org/10.1080/19434472.2013.769116.
Matsumoto, D., Hwang, H. C., & Frank, M. G. (2014b). Emotions expressed in speeches by leaders of ideologically motivated groups predict aggression. Behavioral Sciences of Terrorism and Political Aggression, 6(1), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/19434472.2012.716449.
Matsumoto, D., Frank, M. G., & Hwang, H. C. (2015). The role of intergroup emotions on political violence. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 24(5), 369–373. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721415595023.
Matsumoto, D., Hwang, H. C., & Frank, M. G. (2016). The effects of incidental anger, contempt, and disgust on hostile language and implicit behaviors. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 46(8), 437–452. https://doi.org/10.1111/jasp.12374.
Matsumoto, D., Hwang, H. C., & Frank, M. G. (2017). Emotion and aggressive intergroup cognitions: The ANCODI hypothesis. Aggressive Behavior, 43, 93–107. https://doi.org/10.1002/ab.21666.
Mellers, B. A., Schwartz, A., & Cooke, A. D. J. (1998). Judgment and decision making. Annual Review of Psychology, 49(1), 447–477. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.49.1.447.
Mikels, J. A., Frederickson, B. L., Larkin, G. R., Lindberg, C. M., Maglio, S. J., & Reuter-Lorenz, P. A. (2005). Emotional category data on images from the International Affective Picture System. Behavior Research Methods, 37(4), 626–630. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03192732.
Mishra, S., & Lalumière, M. L. (2011). Individual differences in risk-propensity: Associations between personality and behavioral measures of risk. Personality and Individual Differences, 50(6), 869–873. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2010.11.037.
Naqvi, N., Shiv, B., & Bechara, A. (2006). The role of emotion in decision making: A cognitive neuroscience perspective. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 15(5), 260–264. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8721.2006.00448.x.
Panksepp, J. (1994). The basics of basic emotion. In P. Ekman & R. J. Davidson (Eds.), The nature of emotion: Fundamental questions (pp. 237–242). Oxford University Press.
Panksepp, J. (2008). The affective brain and core consciousness: How does neural activity generate emotional feelings? In M. Lewis, J. M. Haviland-Jones, & L. Feldman Barrett (Eds.), Handbook of Emotions (3rd ed., pp. 47–67). The Guilford Press.
Patil, V. H., Singh, S. N., Mishra, S., & Donavan, D. T. (2017). Parallel Analysis Engine to Aid in Determining Number of Factors to Retain using R [Computer software]. In https://analytics.gonzaga.edu/parallelengine/.
Rammstedt, B., & John, O. P. (2007). Measuring personality in one minute or less: A 10-item short version of the Big Five Inventory in English and German. Journal of Research in Personality, 41(1), 203–212. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2006.02.001.
Robins, R. W., Hendin, H. M., & Trzesniewski, K. H. (2001). Measuring Global Self-Esteem: Construct Validation of a Single-Item Measure and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 27(2), 151–161. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167201272002.
Scherer, K. R., Schorr, A., & Johnstone, T. (Eds). (2001). Appraisal processes in emotion: Theory, methods, research. Oxford University Press.
Shatz, S. M. (2005). The psychometric properties of the behavioral inhibition scale in a college-aged sample. Personality and Individual Differences, 39(2), 331–339. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2005.01.015.
Shou, Y., & Olney, J. (2020). Assessing a domain-specific risk-taking construct: A meta-analysis of reliability of the DOSPERT scale. Judgment and Decision Making, 15(1), 112–134.
Simon, H. A. (1982). Models of bounded rationality: Empirically grounded economic reason. The MIT Press.
Simon, H. A. (1991). Bounded Rationality and Organizational Learning. Organization Science, 2(1), 125–134. https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2.1.125.
Small, D. A., & Lerner, J. S. (2008). Emotional policy: Personal sadness and anger shape judgments about a welfare case. Political Psychology, 29(2), 149–168. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9221.2008.00621.x.
Starcke, K., & Brand, M. (2016). Effects of stress on decisions under uncertainty: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 142(9), 909–933. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000060.
Stellar, J. E., John-Henderson, N., Anderson, C. L., Gordon, A. M., McNeil, G. D., & Keltner, D. (2015). Positive affect and markers of inflammation: Discrete positive emotions predict lower levels of inflammatory cytokines. Emotion, 15(2), 129–133. https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0000033.
Tooby, J., & Cosmides, L. (2008). The evolutionary psychology of the emotions and their relationship to internal regulatory variables. In M. Lewis, J. M. Haviland-Jones, & L. Feldman Barrett (Eds.), Handbook of Emotions (3rd ed., pp. 114–137). The Guilford Press.
Weber, E. U., Blais, A.-R., & Betz, N. E. (2002). A domain-specific risk-attitude scale: Measuring risk perceptions and risk behaviors. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 15(4), 263–290. https://doi.org/10.1002/bdm.414.
Xu, Z., Zhu, R., Shen, C., Zhang, B., Gao, Q., Xu, Y., & Wang, W. (2017). Selecting pure-emotion materials from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS) by Chinese university students: A study based on intensity-ratings only. Heliyon, 3(8), e00389. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2017.e00389.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher's note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Supplementary Information
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Matsumoto, D., Wilson, M. Effects of multiple discrete emotions on risk-taking propensity. Curr Psychol 42, 15763–15772 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-02868-8
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-02868-8