Exposure to Anger and Performance

Abstract

We study the link between exposure to anger and performance, something that to our knowledge has not been studied before.  We exploit the US version of the nationally syndicated television cooking competition MasterChef and collect data on every instance in which judges objectively demonstrate anger to individual participants in each of the episodes in ten years, from 2010 to 2020, of this competition. Contestants exposed to anger from judges end up higher in the final rankings, increase their probability of success in cooking challenges, as well as their probability of reaching the top three and even winning the competition.

Keywords: Exposure to Anger, Performance, Competition, Masterchef, Emotions