Risk Decision Making Under Subliminal Affective Priming

People encounter all kinds of decision making in everyday life. Life is a process filled with constant decision making. Risk decision making as a category of decision making has become a hot research focus among many subjects. In recent years, affective impact on risk decision making has been recognized by many scholars and they have done lots of relevant researches followed by numerous affective and decision making theories. Previous researches are almost concerning how affective which people are consciously aware of influences decision making, while it is still a blank on the research of how subliminal affective influences decision making. People in everyday life more often experience subtle affective state not intensive happy or angry feelings. It is such subtle affective state more likely to influence people's decision making. Subtle positive affective has been recognized as playing an important role in considering(Isen,1993). So this research intends to start from the point of being more closer to people's daily decision making. It intends to explore how subliminal affective priming influences people's risk decision making.This research first reviews the history of decision-making psychology as well as the relevant theories of affective and risk decision making, then based on three experiments we analyze how subliminal affective priming influences people's risk decision making.Experiment One is based on the valence of subliminal affective priming and it intends to explore whether subliminal positive or negative affective may influence risk decision making and compare its results with control group to make analysis. The results show that: subliminal affective has great impact on risk decision making, The subjects in subliminal positive group more often search risk, but those in subliminal negative group are more inclined to avoid risk. While the control group is at the middle level.Based on Experiment One, Experiment Two introduces frame variables. It intends to explore how subliminal affective and frame together influence risk decision making. The results show that subliminal affective has great impact on risk decision making which once again confirm the consequence of Experiment One; however, the frame has no significant influence on risk decision making; while subliminal affective and frame together influence risk decision making.Experiment Three is based on Five Big Personality Theory, and it intends to explore how the personality dimensions of introversion and extroversion as well as subliminal affective together influence risk decision making. The results show that: subliminal positive or negative affective priming has significant influence on risk decision making; and personality traits also have great impact on risk decision making; but there is no interaction between subliminal affective and personality traits on risk decision making.