| In real life,we are always faced with decision making situations under uncertainty,such as education,employment,financial investment.Uncertain decision making refers to the decision making behavior when individuals are given insufficient information and the gains and losses of each option are not clear.How emotional and cognitive factors affect decision making has been a hot and difficult research question.Previous research findings on the relationship between trait anxiety and uncertain decision-making are inconsistent,and the results are not stable.The purpose of this study is to explore how trait anxiety affects uncertain decision-making of individuals and the role of analytica thinking in it,trying to provide new evidence for the relationship between trait anxiety and uncertain decision-making and to explore new explanations for the unstable relationship between the them.Study 1 aimed to explore the relationship between trait anxiety and uncertain decision-making,recruiting 218 college students participants,according to the Trait Anxiety Inventory(T-AI)score in the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory(STAI),participants were divided into the high trait anxiety group(M = 58.00,SD = 3.84)and the low trait anxiety group(M = 30.65,SD = 3.16)on a ±1SD,using the Iowa Gambling Task to measure individual differences in uncertain decision-making,and comprehensively compare high and low trait anxiety from the perspectives of overall performance and decision-making process in uncertain decision-making.Study 2aimed to comprehensively explore the moderating role of analytic thinking in trait anxiety and uncertain decision-making.We recruited 303 college students,and the final effective participants were 273(age: M = 18.78,SD = 0.75),who participated in test of trait anxiety、analytic thinking and Iowa Gambling Task.Study 2a measured the analytic thinking ability of participants through the Cognitive Reflection Test(CRT),aiming to explore whether analytic thinking has a moderating effect on trait anxiety and uncertain decision-making.Study 2b measured the analytic thinking ability of participants through the Cognitive Reflection Test-verbal(CRT-V),aiming to explore the moderating role of analytic thinking in trait anxiety and uncertain decision-making after excluding mathematical ability in analytic thinking.The results of this study found that:(1)In the overall performance and decision-making process of uncertain decision-making,trait anxiety could hinder the uncertain decision-making performance.Specifically,the uncertain decision-making ability of individuals with high trait anxiety on the Iowa Gambling Task was significantly lower than that of individuals with low trait anxiety,mainly reflected in the total net score and the net score in block 5.In addition,in the face of punishment,high trait anxiety tended to choose high-frequency cards,which showed an approach to reward,especially in the later stages of the Iowa Gambling Task(blocks 3-5),and the low trait anxiety group was more likely to faster learning for uncertain decision-making tasks.(2)The individual’s analytic thinking ability(Cognitive Reflection Test,CRT)played a moderating role between trait anxiety and uncertain decision-making,and the trait anxiety level of individuals with low analytic thinking ability significantly negatively predicts their Iowa Gambling Task performance,but the trait anxiety level of individuals with high analytic thinking ability did not predict their performance on the Iowa Gambling Task,and this moderating effect was mainly reflected in the decision-making under risk(block 3-5);(3)After excluding mathematical ability in analytical thinking,analytic thinking ability measured by the Cognitive Reflection Test-verbal(CRT-V)had no significant moderating effect on the relationship between individual’s trait anxiety and uncertain decision-making.In conclusion,this study provides new empirical data for research in the field of trait anxiety and uncertain decision-making,and provides a new explanation for the unstable relationship between trait anxiety and uncertain decision-making from the perspective of analytic thinking ability.At the same time,this study improves the explanatory power of the dual-processing system theory in the field of decision-making,and indirectly discovers the important role of mathematical ability in uncertain decision-making,which will help inspire future researchers to further explore how cognitive and emotional factors interact with uncertain decision-making. |
