Effects of emotional state on behavioral responsiveness to personal risk feedback

Abstract

The influence of incidental emotion on responsiveness to risk feedback was investigated. One hundred and eighty‐seven male and female undergraduate students experienced a film emotion induction procedure to elicit happiness, sadness, or neutral affect. They then received false feedback indicating that their risk of getting a fictional type of influenza was high or low, and were given the chance to obtain more information about this type of flu and how to prevent it. Among low‐risk participants, experiencing any emotion (happy or sad) resulted in obtaining more information than those in the neutral condition. Conversely, high‐risk participants who experienced any emotion took less information than those in the neutral group. High‐risk feedback produced less positive affect, more negative affect and worry, and higher risk perceptions than low‐risk feedback. The findings have implications for how threatening risk feedback will affect information seeking behavior in the context of an emotional state.

Keywords:

• affect
• emotion
• feedback
• risk
• judgment
• decision‐making

Acknowledgments

This research was completed as part of the first author’s master’s thesis under the direction of the second author. We acknowledge Mindy Kelly for assistance with data collection and entry, Elizabeth Votruba‐Drzal for statistical advising, and Martin Greenberg and John Levine for their feedback and membership on the master’s committee.