I'm Feeling Lucky: The Relationship Between Affect and Risk-Seeking in the Framing Effect

Elaine Cheung*, Joseph A. Mikels

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

39 Scopus citations

Abstract

Engagement in risky behavior has traditionally been attributed to an underestimation of the associated risks, but recent perspectives suggest that affective reactions toward a risky option may better explain risk-seeking than risk perception. However, the precise relationship between emotion and risk-seeking remains unclear. The current set of studies elucidates the relationship between emotion and risk-seeking in risky choice framing, using a gambling task. In Study 1, reliance on emotion was related to risk-seeking, but goals to regulate emotion mitigated these effects. In Study 2, positive affect was associated with risk-seeking in loss frames, but unrelated to risk aversion in gain frames. Collectively, these findings indicate a general role for emotion reliance on risk-seeking and a specific role of positive affect on risk-seeking in the loss trials of the framing effect.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)852-859
Number of pages8
JournalEmotion
Volume11
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 2011

Keywords

  • Affect
  • Decision making
  • Emotion
  • Framing effect
  • Risk-seeking

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Psychology

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