ANXIETY IN OPERATORS RISK DECISION-MAKING

The hypothesis that the subject's anxiety will negatively affect the w illingness to make risk decisions was tested in a research project in which 38 operators from the chemical industry participated. ne followi ng methods were administered: performance measures (our own original m ethods), self-report measures (STAI1, STAI2, DOZ) and self-evaluative measure (self-evaluation of one's own level of risk-taking behavior). The correlations found and qualitative analysis of some experimental r esults indicate that anxiety represents an important variable in the d ecision-making process and reduces cognitive control and causes the pr edominance of affective reactions in behavior (task failure) as well a s an aversion to the acceptance of risk decisions, manifested by prolo nged time needed for problem solving.