An experimental investigation of the effects of state and trait anxiety and self-esteem on decision making

The dynamics of how people make decisions has received attention for a long time. But it is a very recent assumption that emotions have unique effects on how people decide. Anxiety –as one of the widespread form of negative emotionality- is also shown to have an impact on decision making but findings are contradictory across studies for both state and trait forms of anxiety. This study tries to explore the influence of state and trait anxiety on Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), a well-validated behavioral index of decision making, by experimentally inducing anxious mood. Also, the association between self-esteem and decision making is investigated, since few studies reported inconsistent data. A hundred and three university students were assigned to mood induction or control group randomly. State Trait Anxiety (STAI), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS), Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale (RSES) and sociodemographic form were used as instruments. To induce anxious mood, movie scripts were used. To pursue changes in mood STAI – State form, PANAS and visual analogue scales were used at different times. Results revealed that the control and experimental group were similar in performance in IGT, but experimental group picked fewer cards from an advantageous deck, indicating impairment in decision making. This finding supported partially the hypothesis that anxious mood induced by an irrelevant source impairs decision making. However, trait anxiety affected negatively decision making, since those high on trait anxiety scores lower in IGT, picked less from an advantageous deck and more form a disadvantageous deck. Nonetheless, the correlations between self esteem and decision making as measured by a complex task was non-significant. The findings are discussed in the light of relevant literature. Key words: State Anxiety, Anxious mood, Trait Anxiety, Iowa Gambling Task, Self Esteem, Decision Making, Mood Induction