Manipulating Anger Does Not Affect Risky Decision Making

Abstract

To date, multiple studies have examined the influence of negative mood on per­formance on behavioral decision-making tasks. Self-reported negative mood was inconsis­tently associated with subsequent decision making, and a similar inconsistent pattern was seen when negative mood was manipulated in the study session. The present study sought to examine how deliberately inducing a particular negative mood, anger, would affect risky decision making. College student participants reported their political beliefs, then were randomly assigned to one of several mood manipulation conditions (political anger, anger, sadness, fear, control) prior to completion of standard behavioral risky decision-making tasks including the Iowa Gambling Task, Game of Dice Task, Balloon Analogue Risk Task, and Columbia Card Task. Results indicated an increase in negative mood in the anger condition following the study manipulation, but only minimal effects of negative mood on risky decision making across tasks. Future assessments of mood and decision making should address multiple negative mood affects in addition to manipulation tech­niques in order to determine if a specific mood and/or manipulation is contributing to an individuals’ risky decision making.