Effects of mood on risky decision making

Abstract

There is increasing evidence supporting the Affect Infusion Model (AIM), which accounts for the role of affect processing in social judgments. Based on the AIM, the study examined the role of mood states in making risky decisions. Forty female Chinese adults from Hong Kong were recruited for this study. A mood induction procedure was applied before they engaged in the experimental task. On random assignment, each subject was induced either a positive (Happy group), or negative mood (Sad group). Results revealed successful mood induction and no significant interaction effects between the groups across pre-and post-tests. The findings did not support the hypothesis based on the AIM, nor the hypotheses advocating for the opposite of the AIM – Mood Maintenance Hypothesis (MMH) and Mood Repair Hypothesis (MRH). It suggested further studies to examine the possible curvilinear relationship between mood and risky decision making, which will highlight the influence of mood on our decision making when risk taking is involved.