Can only a subset of individuals – those higher on the ability to understand the sources of emotions – determine whether to disregard or allow the effects of emotions when making decisions? I test two central predictions. First, I test whether individuals high on emotion understanding ability (EUA), one of the key dimensions of emotional intelligence, are less affected by incidental anxiety when making decisions involving risk than their lower ability counterparts. The rationale for this prediction is that individuals who have high EUA are able to correctly identify their source of anxiety and, based on perceived irrelevance, disregard incidental anxiety when making risky decisions, whereas individuals who have low EUA are confused about the source of anxiety and are more influenced by incidental anxiety when making risky decisions. Second, I test whether individuals high on EUA are more affected by integral anxiety when making risky decisions than their lower ability counterparts. The rationale for this prediction is that individuals who have high EUA are able to correctly identify their source of anxiety and, based on perceived relevance, use their integral anxiety to inform their risky decision making whereas those who have low EUA misattribute their anxiety and are less likely to incorporate their integral anxiety into their decision making. In Experiment 1, incidental anxiety reduced risk-taking among individuals with low EUA, but not among their higher ability counterparts. In Experiment 2, the interactive effect of EUA and incidental anxiety on risk-taking was eliminated when I identified the irrelevance of anxiety to the present decision, but it remained when the irrelevance was not identified. To explore the role of EUA in using the adaptive function of emotion in decision making, Experiment 3 assessed whether emotionally intelligent individuals who have high EUA incorporate integral anxiety, as measured by skin conductance responses, into their risk-taking, compared to those with low EUA. Contrary to expectations, the results of Experiment 3 showed that, when EUA was high, there was a negative effect of integral anxiety on risk-taking that was not significant. When EUA was low, there was a significant positive effect of integral anxiety on risk-taking.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TORONTO/oai:tspace.library.utoronto.ca:1807/42605 |
| Date | 20 November 2013 |
| Creators | Yip, Jeremy |
| Contributors | Côté, Stéphane |
| Source Sets | University of Toronto |
| Language | en_ca |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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