Mood and risk-taking judgment: The role of mood regulation

Abstract

During the past decade, there has been increased attention on the role of mood on risk-taking and judgment. According to Isen¡¯s (1987) mood-maintenance hypothesis, individuals in a negative mood state tend to take greater risks than individuals in a neutral or positive mood state in order to improve their mood. In contrast, however, theorizing and research derived from an information-processing perspective indicates that individuals in a negative mood are more likely to engage in deliberate cognitive processes directed toward avoiding risk. This study seeks to resolve the discrepancy between these two perspectives by examining the influence of systematic cognitive processing as a mood regulation strategy (Forgas, 1998). Negative mood states were induced using a standardized film clip procedure. Participants then completed a risk-taking questionnaire either immediately following the induction, after performing a moderately difficult word anagram task, or after a delay period. As expected, participants in the anagram task condition showed lower levels of risk-taking preference than participants in the immediate judgment and delayed task conditions. Implications and future research directions for research in risk-taking and mood regulation are discussed.