How cognitive reappraisal of anger influences risk-taking behavior

We investigated how reappraisal of anger influences risk-taking behavior. Sixty-three participants were instructed to read an anger-eliciting story while reappraising their emotions as a positive mood with a feeling of control, a negative mood with a feeling of control, a positive mood with no feeling of control, or a negative mood with no feeling of control. Risky behavior was assessed by a wheel of fortune task consisting of 2 options: 1 high reward/high risk and 1 low reward/low risk. When individuals felt able to change a negative situation (feeling of control) this influenced the effects of emotional valence on risk-taking behavior, with contrasting effects for positive and negative reappraisal. When angry, participants who felt in control and who were instructed to reappraise their emotions negatively engaged in more risky selections than did those who had no feeling of control, with the opposite results for participants who reappraised positively.