Fear, anger, and risk.
Abstract
Drawing on an appraisal-tendency framework (J. S. Lerner & D. Keltner, 2000), the authors predicted and found that fear and anger have opposite effects on risk perception. Whereas fearful people expressed pessimistic risk estimates and risk-averse choices, angry people expressed optimistic risk estimates and risk-seeking choices. These opposing patterns emerged for naturally occurring and experimentally induced fear and anger. Moreover, estimates of angry people more closely resembled those of happy people than those of fearful people. Consistent with predictions, appraisal tendencies accounted for these effects: Appraisals of certainty and control moderated and (in the case of control) mediated the emotion effects. As a complement to studies that link affective valence to judgment outcomes, the present studies highlight multiple benefits of studying specific emotions.
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Under an attentional reframing account, consequence framing shifts the decision-maker's frame from responding to a recommendation to predicting an outcome, preserving independent judgment without requiring additional cognitive effort.
“Under an attentional reframing account, consequence framing shifts the decision-maker's frame from responding to a recommendation to predicting an outcome, preserving independent judgment without requiring additional cognitive effort (Loewenstein et al. 2001;Lerner and Keltner 2001).”
From Limits of Interventions in AI-Assisted Decision Making (2026) · cites this paper as Lerner and Keltner 2001
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Limits of Interventions in AI-Assisted Decision Making
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- Authors
- Lerner, J. S., & Keltner, D.
- Affiliations
- Carnegie Mellon University (US)
- Venue
- Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
- Published
- 2001
- Volume
- 81
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 146-159
- ISSN
- 0022-3514 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-1315
- OpenAlex
- W2124911764
- Cited by
- 3,325
- References
- 11
- Citations by year
- 2026: 148 · 2025: 160 · 2024: 198 · 2023: 195 · 2022: 211 · 2021: 219 · 2020: 208 · 2019: 204 · 2018: 150 · 2017: 176 · 2016: 171 · 2015: 174 · 2014: 160 · 2013: 135 · 2012: 140
- FWCI
- 20.78
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of Mental Health (MH15750, T32MH015750)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › General Decision Sciences › Decision-Making and Behavioral Economics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Risk Perception and Management
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment
- Keywords
- fear, anger, risk perception, risk-taking, emotional valence, optimism, pessimism, emotion and judgment, happiness
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Anger, Choice Behavior, Decision Making, Fear, Female, Humans, Male, Psychiatric Status Rating Scales, Risk, Risk-Taking, United States
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