Browse > Article
http://dx.doi.org/10.14695/KJSOS.2015.18.3.35

The Effect of Good and Bad Luck on Attention to Background versus Object: An Exploratory Study  

Lee, Byung-Kwan (Department of Industrial Psychology, Kwangwoon University)
Lee, Guk-Hee (Department of Industrial Psychology, Kwangwoon University)
Publication Information
Science of Emotion and Sensibility / v.18, no.3, 2015 , pp. 35-48 More about this Journal
Abstract
It is frequently found in daily life that people who experience good luck as lottery winners try to improve their background (e.g., home, car) but it has not been empirically validated why they do that. Present research attempts to explore the prediction that people who experience good luck expand the scope of attention to background and those who undergo bad luck shrink the scope of attention to adjacent objects. Findings from Experiment 1a indicate that participants who experienced good luck (won the rock-paper-scissors game) paid more attention to background and performed worse in the "find the hidden picture" (below FHP) task while those who underwent bad luck (lost the rock-paper-scissors game) paid more attention to objects, leading to better performance in the FHP task. It is also found in Experiment 1a that, if people washed their hands after experiencing good or bad luck, the opposite result occurred. Experiment 1b confirmed that the rock-paper-scissor game manipulated good and bad luck successfully and did not influence self-control. Experiment 2 shows that people who strongly believe in good luck performed poorly in FHP task while those who do not believe in good luck performed well in FHP task. Overall, three experiments support the proposed research hypotheses. Implications of the study findings for cognitive psychology and related fields including consumer and sports psychology are discussed.
Keywords
good luck; bad luck; attention; background; object;
Citations & Related Records
Times Cited By KSCI : 3  (Citation Analysis)
연도 인용수 순위
1 Nownsurvey. (2015, February 24). If you win the lottery? Buying real estate first! (복권에 당첨된다면? 일단 부동산부터!). Retrieved from http://www.nownsurvey.com/board/notice/view/wr_id/27/ (2015, June 29)
2 Anstis, S., & Kim, J. (2011). Local versus global perception of ambiguous motion displays. Journal of Vision, 11(3), 1-12.
3 Arkes, H. R., Joyner, C. A., Pezzo, M. V., Nash, J. G., Siegel-Jacobs, K., & Stone, E. (1994). The psychology of windfall gains. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 59(3), 331-347.   DOI
4 Buddelmeyer, H., & Peyton, K. (2014). How windfall income increases gambling at poker machines. Economic Record, 90(289), 236-248.   DOI
5 Chennells, L. (1997). The windfall tax. Fiscal Studies, 18(3), 279-291.   DOI
6 Fong, M. (2000). "Luck talk" in celebrating the Chinese New Year. Journal of Pragmatics, 32(2), 219-237.   DOI
7 Forster, J., & Higgins, E. T. (2005). How global versus local perception fits regulatory focus. Psychological Science, 16(8), 631-636.   DOI
8 Fredrickson, B. L., & Branigan, C. (2005). Positive emotions broaden the scope of attention and thought-action repertoires. Cognition and Emotion, 19(3), 313-332.   DOI
9 Gasper, K., & Clore, G. L. (2002). Attending to the big picture: Mood and global versus local processing of visual information. Psychological Science, 13(1), 34-40.   DOI
10 Gasper, K. (2004). Do you see what I see? Affect and visual information processing. Cognition and Emotion, 18(3), 405-421.   DOI
11 Hanselman, D. C., & Littlefield, B. R. (2011). Mastering matlab. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
12 Hansen, J., & Trope, Y. (2013). When time flies: How abstract and concrete mental construal affect the perception of time. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 142(2), 336-347.   DOI
13 Hicks, J. A., & King, L. A. (2007). Meaning in life and seeing the big picture: Positive affect and global focus. Cognition and Emotion, 21(7), 1577-1584.   DOI
14 Jang, Y., Lee, J., Yoon, H., & Kim, S. (2008). Determinants of sense of control in later life. Journal of the Korean Gerontological Society, 28(4), 1055-1068.
15 Kepner, M. D., & Neimark, E. D. (1984). Test-retest reliability and differential patterns of score change on the group embedded figures test. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 46(6), 1405-1413.   DOI
16 Lee, B., & Lee, G. (2013). The effect of priming attribution of chance versus effort on task satisfaction and re-performance Intention. Science of Emotion & Sensibility, 16(4), 535-544.
17 Koo, M., Clore, G. L., Kim, J., & Choi, I. (2012). Affective facilitation and inhibition of cultural influences on reasoning. Cognition & Emotion, 26(4), 680-689.   DOI
18 Krumboltz, J. D. (2009). The happenstance learning theory. Journal of Career Assessment, 17(2), 135-154.   DOI
19 Krumboltz, J. D., & Levin, A. S. (2004). Luck is no accident: Making the most of happenstance in your life and career. Atascadero, CA: Impact Publishers.
20 Lee, B., & Lee, G. (2014a). The effect of good and bad luck on reasoning. Science of Emotion & Sensibility, 17(3), 39-48.
21 Lee, B., & Lee, G. (2014b). The effect of self-regulatory focus on loss aversion when gain and loss between possession and valence compete. Science of Emotion & Sensibility, 17(4), 101-108.
22 Lee, S. W. S., & Schwarz, N. (2011). Wiping the slate clean psychological consequences of physical cleansing. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 20(5), 307-311.   DOI
23 Mitchell, K. E., Levin, S., & Krumboltz, J. D. (1999). Planned happenstance: Constructing unexpected career opportunities. Journal of Counseling & Development, 77(2), 115-124.   DOI
24 Navon, D. (1977). Forest before trees: The precedence of global features in visual perception. Cognitive Psychology, 9(3), 353-383.   DOI
25 Ohtsuka, K., & Chan, C. C. (2010). Donning red underwear to play mahjong: superstitious beliefs and problem gambling among Chinese mahjong players in Macau. Gambling Research, 22(1), 18-33.
26 Witkin, H. A., & Goodenough, D. R. (1977). Field dependence and interpersonal behavior. Psychological Bulletin, 84(4), 661-689.   DOI
27 Radford, E., & Radford, M. (1961). Encyclopedia of superstitions: A history of superstition. London, United Kingdom: Hutchinson.
28 Reid, M. G. (1962). Consumption, savings and windfall gains. The American Economic Review, 52(4), 728-737.
29 Vyse, S. A. (1997). Believing in magic: The psychology of superstition. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
30 Witkin, H. A., Goodenough, D. R., & Oltman, P. K. (1979). Psychological differentiation: Current status. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 37(7), 1127-1145.   DOI
31 Xu, A. J., Zwick, R., & Schwarz, N. (2012). Washing away your (good or bad) luck: Physical cleansing affects risk-taking behavior. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 141(1), 26-30.   DOI