Effects of unrelated arousal on reckless gambling behavior

Abstract

The relationship between gambling behavior and emotion has been demonstrated in several studies. Takada & Yukawa revealed the relationship between positive emotion and reckless gambling. However, core affect theory of Russell and Feldman-Barrett insists that emotional state is consisted by 2 dimensions (pleasure ??displeasure, and arousal ??sleepiness). In this study, effects of arousal without positive emotion were experimentally investigated in healthy undergraduates. Participants (18 males and 16 females) performed a Game of Dice Task (GDT) that consisted of 18 gambling trials. Before they conduct the GDT, participants of experimental group tried the step exercise for about 2 minutes, in order for them to elicit their arousal unrelated to the GDT. On the other hand, participants of control group waited with nothing to do, for 2 minutes, before they conduct the GDT. Result indicated that participants of experimental group became significantly less recklessly on GDT than participants of control group. This result suggests that unrelated arousal without positive emotion might have not promoted but inhibited reckless gambling behavior. Further research is needed to understand the effects of emotional states on gambling behavior.