Abstract
In this paper, we aimed to demonstrate how incidental surprise impacts individuals’ risk-taking behavior. Previous empirical studies have shown that incidental surprise can influence risk-taking behavior, but the psychological mechanisms behind this phenomenon have not been explored. Based on the appraisal tendency framework, we propose that surprise affects individuals’ risk-taking behavior by influencing their level of pleasantness and risk perception. To test our hypothesis, we conducted a study with 79 participants, comparing their pleasantness, risk perception, and risk-taking behavior under different emotions. Our findings strongly indicate that pleasantness and risk perception jointly contributed to a chain mediation effect when positive (negative) surprise prompted participants to become more (less) willing to take risks. Additionally, we also discovered that the effect of negative surprise on risk-taking behavior was moderated by individuals’ risk attitudes. Risk-seeking individuals were less affected by negative surprise than risk-averse ones. Overall, this study sheds light on the psychological mechanisms underlying the impact of incidental surprise on individuals’ risk-taking behavior.
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Data Availability
The data that support the finding of this study are available from the corresponding author, upon request.
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This study was supported by The National Social Science Fund of China (Grant No. 21BGL196).
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M.L and D.L. designed the paradigm; M.L., Y.F. and H.W. conducted the experiment; M.L. analyzed the data; M.L. and J.S. wrote the paper. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript. M.L and D.L. were equally contributed.
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Liu, M., Liang, D., Fu, Y. et al. A psychological mechanism of surprise impacts risky decision making. Curr Psychol 43, 16311–16327 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-023-05598-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-023-05598-7