Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Risk perception: unrealistic optimism or realistic expectancy.

P Todesco1, S B Hillman

  • 1College of Education, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 48202, USA.

Psychological Reports
|July 17, 1999
PubMed
Summary

Risk-takers do not perceive themselves as invulnerable to harm. Adolescents realistically assess their personal risk compared to children, especially for health-threatening behaviors.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Personality and drug abstention in adolescents.

Psychological reports·2001
Same author

Locus of control, self-concept, and self-esteem among at-risk African-American adolescents.

Adolescence·1996
Same author

Comparison of self-esteem scores: American and Indian adolescents.

Psychological reports·1995
Same author

Serum cholesterol and acute myocardial infarction: a case-control study from the GISSI-2 trial. Gruppo Italiano per lo Studio della Sopravvivenza nell'Infarto-Epidemiologia dei Fattori di Rischio dell'Infarto Miocardico Investigators.

British heart journal·1994
Same author

The influence of disabling condition visibility on family functioning.

Journal of pediatric psychology·1993
Same author

Power of the independent samples t test under a prevalent psychometric measure distribution.

Journal of consulting and clinical psychology·1992

Area of Science:

  • Psychology
  • Behavioral Science
  • Health Behavior

Background:

  • Risk perception influences decision-making and health behaviors.
  • Unrealistic optimism, the belief in being less likely to experience negative events, is a common cognitive bias.
  • Understanding how risk involvement affects perception is crucial for public health interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate risk perception and unrealistic optimism in relation to risk-taking behavior.
  • To examine how undergraduate students perceive their likelihood of negative consequences compared to different targets (child, peer, parent).
  • To test the hypothesis that high risk-takers perceive themselves as invulnerable.

Main Methods:

  • Survey study with 74 undergraduate students.
  • Participants rated personal likelihood of negative consequences compared to child, peer, and parent.
  • Participants reported their level of involvement in risk-taking (High vs. Low).

Main Results:

  • Overall, high and low risk-takers did not significantly differ in their perception of harmful events.
  • Adolescents rated their personal risk of engaging in health-threatening behaviors higher when comparing themselves to children.
  • This suggests adolescents can realistically appraise differences and perceive greater personal risk relative to younger individuals.

Conclusions:

  • The findings dispute the hypothesis that risk-takers are invulnerable.
  • Adolescents demonstrate realistic risk appraisal, particularly when comparing themselves to children.
  • These insights have implications for designing targeted health promotion and risk-reduction strategies.

Related Experiment Videos