Personality characteristics and state mood influence individual deck selections on the Iowa Gambling Task

• Published in: Personality and individual differences 2013-04, Vol.54 (5), p.593-597
• Main Authors: Buelow, Melissa T., Suhr, Julie A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; BIS/BAS; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; IGT; Impulsivity; Iowa Gambling Task; PANAS; Personality; Personality traits; Personality. Affectivity; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; State mood
• ISSN: 0191-8869; 1873-3549
• DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2012.11.019

► Individual Iowa Gambling Task decks have different frequencies of wins and losses. ► We examined whether personality and mood affected IGT deck selections. ► Negative mood, BAS, impulsivity, and sensation seeking were associated with Deck B selections. ► Personality and mood differentially relate to selections from individual IGT decks. The Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) is commonly used to assess risky decision making in clinical and non-clinical populations, and negative mood and various personality characteristics have been shown to affect the number of advantageous and disadvantageous selections on this task. Recent research has suggested that IGT data should be analyzed at the individual deck level due to differences in frequency and magnitude of losses, and the present study examined how personality characteristics and state mood may affect deck level selections on this task. Participants were 91 undergraduate students (38 male) who completed measures of impulsivity and sensation seeking, behavioral activation and inhibition, state mood, and the computerized IGT. Results indicated that negative mood, drive, impulsivity, and sensation seeking were all positively correlated with Deck B selections, but negatively correlated with Deck D selections. No differences emerged in correlations between Decks A and B or Decks A and D. Results indicate that mood and personality characteristics differentially relate to selections from the individual decks on the IGT. Results have implications for the assessment of decision making, as personality and fluctuations in state-dependent mood could mimic pathological risk-taking if analysis is conducted on the combined decks.