The Effect Of Affect On Adolescents’Risk Perception

Risk perception is an essential cognitive element of adolescents’risk behavior, playing the role as an important predictive index as well. Affect plays a key role in adolescents’risk behavior. This study tried to connect the cognitive element of risk behavior—risk perception and affect together, studying the effect of emotion on risk perception. This study consisted of two parts:(1) Study one used a2*3between-subject design and required the subjects to finish the task that measuring risk perception under distinct affect valence, positive%negative and neutral. The subjects are adolescents from8th grade and11th grade. Study one showed that positive affect led to lower risk perception in both subjects from8th and11th. They tend to make optimistic evaluations and predictions toward risk behaviors, underestimate the possibility that risk happened, underestimate the level of risk and overestimate the profit compromised by the risk behavior. However, the negative affect’s effect on risk perception was dissimilar in the two subject groups. In terms of early adolescents, negative affect led to higher risk perception, which means they tend to make pessimistic evaluations and predictions towards risk behaviors, overestimate the possibility that risk happened, overestimate the level of risk and overestimate the loss compromised by the risk behavior. The negative affect did not have such effect in mid-adolescents, which means the risk perception level under negative affect is not significantly different from the neural state.(2) Study two used a2*2*2between-subject design, requiring the subjects to finish the task measuring risk perception under four distinct states, high arousal positive, and low arousal negative, and high arousal negative and low arousal negative. Study two found that the risk perception of mid adolescent was lower than that of early adolescent, which means mid adolescent tended to estimate lower possibility that risk happen, estimate lower risk level that risk behavior possess, estimate higher value of profit vs loss, compared with early adolescent. Arousal had different effect regarding affect valence. In terms of positive affect, higher arousal led to lower risk perception, which means subjects tend to underestimate the possibility that risk happened, underestimate the level of risk and overestimate the profit compromised by the risk behavior. In terms of negative affect, risk perception under high arousal wasn’t significantly different from that of low arousal. In the end, we discussed in detail about the design, findings, innovation shortcomings of this study and plausible future research directions.