Cognitive Psychology Commons^™

Based on recent affect-cognition theories (Bless et al., 1996; Fiedler, 2001; Sinclair, 1988), the present study predicts and shows a differentiated influence of nice and nasty environments on complex problem solving (CPS). Environments were constructed by manipulating the target value ‘capital’ of a complex scenario: Participants in the nice environment (N = 42) easily raised the capital and received positive feedback, whereas those in the nasty environment (N = 42) hardly enhanced the capital and got negative feedback. The results showed that nasty environments increased negative and decreased positive affect. The reverse was true for nice environments. Furthermore, nasty environments …

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. …