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There is an ongoing debate about whether and how anxiety level affects behavioral performance in risk and/or ambiguous decision-making. According to the literature, we suggest that gender difference might be a confounding factor that has contributed to heterogeneous findings in previous studies. To examine this idea, 135 students who participated in this study were divided into six groups according to their gender (male/female) and trait anxiety level (high/medium/low; measured by the Trait form of Spielberger’s State-Trait Anxiety Inventory). All groups finished the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) for ambiguous decision-making, and the Game of Dice Task (GDT) for risk decision-making. Behavioral results revealed that the IGT but not the GDT showed an interaction between anxiety and gender. Specifically, men outperformed women in the IGT, but only when their trait anxiety levels were low. Meanwhile, the GDT showed a main effect of anxiety grouping, such that low anxious participants were more risk-seeking than their medium anxious counterparts. These findings indicate that gender selectively modulates the influence of anxiety on ambiguous decision-making, but not risk decision-making. The theoretical and practical implications of the current findings are discussed.

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The importance of socioeconomic status (SES) in foreign language learning has received increasing attention. However, previous research mainly examined the direct link between SES and foreign language learning, and few explored what might mitigate this link, especially in collectivistic culture. Based on social capital theory and the attachment theory, this study explored the moderating role of teacher–student relationships (TSRs) in the link between SES and English learning in China. Data were collected from 1,181 grade 8 and 300 grade 11 students in China using self-reported SES questionnaire, TSRs scale, and English achievement test. The results show that TSRs negatively moderated the association between SES and English performance of Chinese students both in grade 8 and grade 11, but the moderating effect of TSRs was slightly greater in grade 11. That is, supportive TSRs mitigated the effects of SES on foreign language learning, especially for senior secondary students. This finding sheds light on foreign language teaching and learning in China and other countries with similar sociocultural context theoretically and practically.