Abstract
To investigate the role of anger and anxiety traits on psychological attitudes about consumer behaviour, we asked to participants their perceptions and preferences about housing loans. Results show that: mortgage risk perception is negatively associated with trait anger and positively with trait anxiety, whereas the opposite happens for housing loan predictability; trait anger is positively associated with preference for adjustable-rate mortgage, whereas trait anxiety predicts a preference for no form of housing loan. These findings fit with a growing body of evidence suggesting that personality traits influence perceptions and preferences about financial risk-taking.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bechara A, Damasio AR, Damasio H, Anderson SW (1994) Insensitivity to future consequences following damage to human prefrontal cortex. Cognition 50:7–15. doi:10.1016/0010-0277(94)90018-3
Beck AT (1999) Prisoners of hate: the cognitive basis of anger, hostility and violence. Harper Collins, New York
Bensi L, Giusberti F (2007) Trait anxiety and reasoning under uncertainty. Pers Individ Dif 43:827–838. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2007.02.007
Berns GS, Laibson D, Loewenstein G (2007) Intertemporal choice—toward an integrative framework. Trends Cogn Sci 11:482–488. doi:10.1016/j.tics.2007.08.011
Butler G, Mathews A (1987) Anticipatory anxiety and risk perceptions. Cogn Ther Res 11:551–565. doi:10.1007/BF01183858
Carducci BJ, Wong AS (1998) Type A and risk taking in everyday money matters. J Bus Psychol 12:355–359. doi:10.1023/A:1025031614989
Carver CS, White TL (1994) Behavioral inhibition, behavioral activation, and affective responses to impending reward and punishment: the BIS/BAS Scales. J Pers Soc Psychol 67:319–333. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.67.2.319
Cho J, Lee J (2006) An integrated model of risk and risk-reducing strategies. J Bus Res 59:112–120. doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2005.03.006
Comunian L (2004) Manuale STAXI-2 State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory-2. Adattamento italiano. Organizzazioni Speciali, Firenze
Corvoisier S, Gropp R (2002) Bank concentration and retail interest rates. J Bank Financ 26:2155–2189. doi:10.1016/S0378-4266(02)00204-2
Dahlbäck O (1990) Personality and risk-taking. Pers Individ Differ 11:1235–1242. doi:10.1016/0191-8869(90)90150-P
Deffenbacher JL, Dahlen ER, Lynch RS, Morris CD, Gowensmith WN (2000) An application of Beck’s cognitive therapy to general anger reduction. Cogn Ther Res 24:689–697. doi:10.1023/A:1005539428336
Eysenck SBG, Eysenck HJ (1978) Impulsiveness and venturesomeness: their position in a dimensional system of personality description. Psychol Rep 43:1247–1255. doi:10.2466/PR0.43.7.1247-1255
Fernández de Guevara J, Maudos J, Pérez F (2005) Market power in European banking sectors. J Financ Serv Res 27:109–137. doi:10.1007/s10693-005-6665-z
Figner B, Mackinlay RJ, Wilkening F, Weber EU (2009) Affective and deliberative processes in risky choice: age differences in risk taking in the Columbia Card Task. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn 35:709–730. doi:10.1037/a0014983
Fischhoff B, Gonzalez RM, Lerner JS, Small DA (2005) Evolving judgments of terror risks: foresight, hindsight, and emotion. J Exp Psychol Appl 11:124–139. doi:10.1037/1076-898X.11.2.124
Forgas JP (2000) Feeling and thinking: the role of affect in social cognition. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Forgays DG, Forgays DK, Spielberger CD (1997) Factor structure of the state-trait anger expression inventory. J Pers Assess 69:497–507. doi:10.1207/s15327752jpa6903_5
Gambetti E, Giusberti F (2009) Dispositional anger and risk decision-making. Mind Soc 8:7–20. doi:10.1007/s11299-008-0052-z
Gambetti E, Giusberti F (2012) The effect of anger and anxiety traits on investment decisions. J Econ Psychol 33:1059–1069. doi:10.1016/j.joep.2012.07.001
Gibson D (2006) Emotions in finance: distrust and uncertainty in global markets. IOP Publishing PhysicsWeb. http://digitalcommons.fairfield.edu/business-facultypubs/19. Accessed 21 July 2014
Harmon-Jones E, Allen JJB (1998) Anger and frontal brain activity: EEG asymmetry consistent with approach motivation despite negative affective valence. J Pers Soc Psychol 74:1310–1316. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.74.5.1310
Hemenover SH, Zhang S (2004) Anger, personality and optimistic stress appraisals. Cogn Emot 18:363–382. doi:10.1080/02699930341000103
Jackson DN, Hourany L, Vidmar NJ (1972) A four-dimensional interpretation of risk taking. J Pers 40:483–501. doi:10.1111/j.1467-6494.1972.tb00075.x
Kahneman DE, Tversky A (2000) Choices, values, and frames. Russell Sage Foundation, New York
Kogan N, Wallach MA (1964) Risk taking: a study in cognition and personality. Holt, New York
Lauriola M, Levin IP (2001) Relating individual differences in attitude toward ambiguity to risky choices. J Behav Decis Mak 14:107–122. doi:10.1002/bdm.368
Lejuez CW, Read JP, Kahler CW, Richards JB, Ramsey SE, Stuart GL, Strong DR, Brown RA (2002) Evaluation of a behavioral measure of risk taking: the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART). J Exp Psychol Appl 8:75–84. doi:10.1037//1076-898X.8.2.75
Lerner JS, Keltner D (2000) Beyond valence: toward a model of emotion-specific influences on judgement and choice. Cogn Emot 14:473–493. doi:10.1080/026999300402763
Lerner JS, Tiedens LZ (2006) Portrait of the angry decision maker: how appraisal tendencies shape anger’s influence on cognition. J Behav Decis Mak 19:115–137. doi:10.1002/bdm.515
Levin IP, Hart SS (2003) Risk preferences in young children: early evidence of individual differences in reaction to potential gains and losses. J Behav Decis Mak 16:397–413. doi:10.1002/bdm.453
Lowenstein G, Lerner JS (2003) The role of affect in decision making. In: Davidson R, Scherer K, Goldsmith H (eds) Handbook of affective science. Oxford University Press, New York, pp 619–642
Maner JK, Schmidt NB (2006) The role of risk avoidance in anxiety. Behav Ther 37:181–189. doi:10.1016/j.beth.2005.11.003
Maner JK, Richey JA, Cromer K, Mallott M, Lejuez CW, Joiner E, Schmidt NB (2007) Dispositional anxiety and risk-avoidant decision-making. Pers Individ Differ 42:665–675. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2006.08.016
Milevsky MA, Posner SE (1999) Money logic: financial strategies for the serious investor. Stoddart, Toronto
Mitte K (2007) Anxiety and risk decision-making: the role of subjective probability and subjective cost of negative events. Pers Individ Differ 43:243–253. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2006.11.028
Pedrabissi L, Santinello M (1989) STAI, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, Forma Y: Manuale. Organizzazioni Speciali, Firenze
Peters E, Västfäll D, Gärling T, Slovic P (2006) Affect and decision-making: a ‘‘hot’’ topic. J Behav Decis Mak 19:79–85. doi:10.1002/bdm.528
Quigley BM, Tedeschi JT (1996) Mediating effects of blame attributions on feelings of anger. Pers Soc Psychol Bull 22:1280–1288. doi:10.1177/01461672962212008
Roseman IJ, Wiest C, Swartz TS (1994) Phenomenology, behaviors, and goals differentiate discrete emotions. J Pers Soc Psychol 67:206–211. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.67.2.206
Shepperd JA, Grace J, Cole L, Klein CTF (2005) Anxiety and outcome judgments. Pers Soc Psychol Bull 31:267–275. doi:10.1177/0146167204271322
Spielberger CD (1999) State-trait anger expression inventory-2: Professional Manual. Psychological Assessment Resources, Odessa
Spielberger CD, Sydeman SJ (1994) State-trait anxiety inventory and state-trait anger expression inventory. In: Maruish ME (ed) The use of psychological testing for treatment planning and outcome assessment. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale, pp 292–321
Tangney JP, Baumeister RF, Boone AL (2004) High self-control predicts good adjustment, less pathology, better grades, and interpersonal success. J Pers 72:271–324. doi:10.1111/j.0022-3506.2004.00263.x
Thoresen CE, Low KG (1990) Women and the type A behaviour pattern: review and commentary. J Soc Behav Pers 5:117–133
VandenBos GR (2007) APA dictionary of psychology. APA, Washington
Västfjäll D, Gärling T (2006) Preference for negative emotions. Emotion 6:326–329. doi:10.1037/1528-3542.6.2.326
Ward DR (2009) Product differentiation and consumption efficiency in mortgage markets. J Bus Res 62:805–809. doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2008.03.001
Weber EU, Johnson EJ (2008) Decisions under uncertainty: psychological, economic, and neuroeconomic explanations of risk preference. In: Glimcher P, Camerer C, Fehr E, Poldrack R (eds) Neuroeconomics: decision making and the brain. Elsevier, New York, pp 127–144
Weber EU, Blais AR, Betz NE (2002) A domain-specific risk-attitude scale: measuring risk perceptions and risk behaviors. J Behav Decis Mak 15:263–290. doi:10.1002/bdm.414
Wilt J, Oehlberg K, Revelle W (2011) Anxiety in personality. Pers Individ Differ 50:987–993. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2010.11.014
Wong A, Carducci BJ (1991) Sensation-seeking and financial risk taking in everyday money matters. J Bus Psychol 5:525–530
Zaleskiewicz T (2001) Beyond risk seeking and risk aversion: personality and the dual nature of economic risk taking. Eur J Pers 15:105–122. doi:10.1002/per.426
Acknowledgments
This paper is the result of research financially supported by the “Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Cesena”.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Gambetti, E., Giusberti, F. The role of anxiety and anger traits in financial field. Mind Soc 13, 271–284 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11299-014-0150-z
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11299-014-0150-z