Examining the effect of impossible problem solving on state anger: Comparing in-person and MTurk participants

This research comprises of two studies examining the effect of impossible problem solving on state anger. For the first study, using 155 participants on Amazon’s MTurk, a significant difference was observed on state anger from baseline to post-intervention (p = .04). Due to the well documented concerns about using MTurk participants, a second study involving 111 participants from a small liberal arts college was conducted. Using the same design, no significant effect of time on state anger was observed (p > .05). Post-hoc analyses indicated a significant difference between MTurk and in-person participants on trait anger (p < .05), pre-test state anger (p < .05), and post-test state anger (p < .05). Implications are discussed.