Role of Mood, Temperament, and Awareness in Formation of Cognition and Judgement: in Phishing Detection

Previous studies showed that the effect of security awareness diminishes with time, and, as an independent antecedent, it showed no influence on phishing judgment. Nonetheless, when combined with mindfulness, it shows the potential to improve phishing detection accuracy through cognitive processing. However, the exclusive cognitive perspective that dominated phishing research might not represent the wholesome view of phishing behavior, given the interdependent nature of affect and cognition in information processing and decision-making. Previous studies explored the influence of induced emotion, but the influence of individuals’ natural traits (temperament) and state (mood) on the phishing detection process and performance is yet to be explored. Building on an affect-integrated cognitive processing lens, this study examines the process of cognition formation, produced by security awareness and domain mindfulness, and impeded by mood state, and its influence on phishing detection accuracy. The contribution of this study lies in expanding the theoretical lens and recommending practices to improve the training process.