Digital Commons Network^™

The assumption that positive affect leads to a better performance in various cognitive tasks has become well established. We investigate whether positive and negative emotions influence performance and strategies in complex problem solving. 74 male and female university students were tested in an experiment, using feedback-induced emotions and a computer-simulated scenario. Contrary to what has been expected, emotions did not affect success in scenario control. However, participants with negative emotions did show more information-oriented strategies in the scenario. We further tested whether control beliefs as a trait influence scenario control and moderate the relation between emotions and complex problem solving. …