Trait Anxiety and Affective Bias in Tactical Decision-Making

Abstract

Affective states may influence decision-making at different stages of information processing, including selective attention, situation assessment and choice of action. Studies of state anxiety, a negative emotional state, reveal multiple biases including an attentional bias to threat-related stimuli and biases at later stages. The present study examined the effects of threat and both trait and state anxiety on decision-making in a simulated rescue task. Participants were induced into a mood (neutral or anxious) and asked to choose the fastest route leading to a lost party by evaluating uncertain benefits and costs for several routes. The results confirm that mood induction methods can be used for decision-making tasks. Additionally, these findings suggest that different forms of ‘affect’ may relate to different biases. Task-related threat and induced mood influenced route choice, but trait and state anxiety influenced selective attention to benefits and costs.