愤怒情绪对延迟折扣的影响：确定感和控制感的中介作用

本研究基于评估倾向理论, 通过3项实验考察了特定负性情绪(愤怒)对延迟折扣的影响, 并探究确定感和控制感评估倾向在这一关系中的作用。实验1考察愤怒情绪对延迟折扣的影响, 结果发现, 愤怒组被试的延迟满足倾向显著强于恐惧组和控制组。实验2采用实验因果链设计考察确定感和控制感评估倾向在愤怒情绪影响个体延迟折扣中的作用, 结果发现, 愤怒情绪可以有效增强个体的确定感和控制感(实验2a), 同时确定感和控制感能够增强个体的延迟满足倾向(实验2b)。实验3采用中介测量设计考察确定感和控制感评估倾向在愤怒情绪影响个体延迟折扣中的作用, 结果发现, 确定感和控制感评估倾向在愤怒情绪影响个体延迟折扣中起完全中介作用。本研究结果表明, 当个体进行跨期决策时, 体验到与确定感和控制感有关的偶然愤怒情绪会增强其延迟满足倾向。本研究对探究特定负性情绪对个体延迟折扣的影响具有一定的启示意义。

The influence of anger on delay discounting:The mediating role of certainty and control

Delay discounting occurs when,compared to current or recent benefits(or losses),people give future benefits(or losses)less weight and choose current or recent benefits(or losses).Delay discounting is an important research direction in the field of decision-making.Based on the Appraisal-Tendency Framework,the present study aimed to examine how anger influences an individual’s delay discounting and then explore the underlying mechanism of the effect of anger on delay discounting.The key hypotheses––that anger would influence delay discounting and that certainty and control appraisal tendencies would drive this effect––were tested across three experiments.Experiment 1 investigated the effect of anger on delay gratification.In Experiments 2a and 2b,an experimental-causal-chain design was used to test(a)whether anger increases certainty-control relative to fear and neutral feelings,and(b)whether experiencing certainty-control increases one’s delay gratification.In Experiment 3,a measurement-of-mediation design was used to test whether feelings of certainty-control stemming from anger predicted delay gratification.Simultaneously,we explored whether positive emotions associated with certainty-control produced increases in delay gratification.The focus was on pleasure as a positive,certainty-control-associated emotion.In Experiment 1,the results showed that compared with fear and neutral participants,angry participants were more likely to choose large and delayed rewards.In Experiment 2a,the results showed that compared with fear and neural participants,angry participants were more likely to experience certainty-control feelings.Then,in Experiment 2b,the results showed that compared with low certainty-control participants,high certainty-control participants were more likely to choose large and delayed rewards.In Experiment 3,the results showed that compared with fear and neutral participants,angry and pleasant participants experienced more certainty-control feelings and were more likely to choose large and delayed rewards.Furthermore,the mediation analysis showed that certainty-control feelings played a complete mediating role in the effect of anger and pleasure on delay discounting.Converging evidence from the three experiments indicated that incidental anger can influence delay discounting.Compared with fear and neutral feelings,those experiencing anger were more likely to choose larger and delayed rewards(Experiment 1).Importantly,these two experiments provide direct process evidence by showing that the certainty and control appraisal tendencies triggered by anger may underlie its delay gratification-enhancing effects(Experiments 2 and Experiment 3).Furthermore,experiencing certaintycontrol-associated emotions(i.e.,anger and pleasure),regardless of valence,increased to the likelihood that individuals would choose larger and delayed rewards(Experiment 3).The current research supports the hypotheses that anger increases delay gratification and that certainty and control appraisal tendencies drive this effect.These findings have important implications for understanding the mechanism underlying the effect of specific negative emotions on intertemporal choice.