Trait emotional intelligence is related to risk-taking through negative mood and anticipated fear

Existing research showed that negative mood and the anticipated fear of bad outcomes lead people to prefer risk-averse tendencies, and these effects have often been implicitly considered as a universal phenomenon. Nevertheless, interactionist accounts emphasized the importance of both person and situation in predicting outcomes. We aimed to prove whether trait Emotional Intelligence (EI; a person’s characteristic) was related to risk-taking through factors naturally occurring in decision-making processes (i.e., negative mood and anticipated fear). One hundred fifty-eight participants completed the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS), the anticipated fear rating and the hot-Columbia Card Task (CCT; a risk-taking measure), 1 month following assessment of trait EI. Results showed that negative mood and anticipated fear were two simultaneous mediators of the relationship between trait EI and risk-taking.