Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 23, 2025
13:04
Measuring the Subjective Value of Risky and Ambiguous Options using Experimental Economics and Functional MRI Methods
Published on: September 19, 2012
12.1K
The psychological drivers of self-reported risk preference
1Department of Psychology, University of Essex.
Summary
Understanding risk preference involves examining psychological drivers. This study supports a risk-return model, highlighting how individual differences in thinking and psychological factors influence risk-taking behavior and stated preferences.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Behavioral Economics
Background:
- Risk preference is traditionally measured via behavioral tasks, but stated preferences show greater reliability.
- Psychological drivers underlying stated risk preferences remain underexplored.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the psychological drivers of risk preference within the psychological risk-return framework.
- To examine the role of thinking dispositions and psychological factors in evaluating risks and benefits.
Main Methods:
- Participants reported risk/benefit evaluations and engagement propensity for activities.
- Individual differences in analytic and intuitive thinking were assessed.
- Psychological drivers of activity evaluations were explored.
Main Results:
- Explicit consideration of risks and rewards correlated with sensitivity to risk perception and benefit ratings.
- Analytic thinking disposition was associated with considering risks and rewards.
- Intuition, imagination, and feeling emerged as stable psychological drivers influencing risk preference.
Conclusions:
- Findings support the psychological risk-return model of risk preference.
- A multifaceted model is needed to account for multiple, co-occurring psychological drivers of risk preference.
Related Concept Videos
02:45Self-Discrepancy Theory
18.4K
One influential perspective on what motivates people's behavior is detailed in Tory Higgin's self-discrepancy theory (Higgins, 1987). He proposed that people hold disagreeing internal representations of themselves that lead to different emotional states.
18.4K
02:05Self-Presentation: Self-Monitoring and Self-Handicapping
39.1K
People can go to great lengths to protect their self-image and present themselves in ways that they want others to see them. Sociologist Erving Goffman presented the idea that a person is like an actor on a stage. Calling his theory dramaturgy, Goffman believed that we use “impression management” to present ourselves to others as we hope to be perceived. Each situation is a new scene, and individuals perform different roles depending on who is present (Goffman, 1959). Think about...
39.1K
01:22Self-Report Tests of Personality
388
Self-report inventories are objective personality assessments that use multiple-choice items or numbered scales, typically ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). They are often called Likert scales after Rensis Likert. These inventories are widely used due to their ease of administration and cost-effectiveness. One of the most prominent examples is the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), initially developed in the 1940s to assess abnormal personality traits.
388
01:14Fundamental Attribution Error
12.9K
According to some social psychologists, people tend to overemphasize internal factors as explanations—or attributions—for the behavior of other people. They tend to assume that the behavior of another person is a trait of that person, and to underestimate the power of the situation on the behavior of others. They tend to fail to recognize when the behavior of another is due to situational variables, and thus to the person’s state. This erroneous assumption is...
12.9K
01:24Primary Motives: Sleep, Sex, and Pain Avoidance
870
Primary motives such as sleep, sex, and pain avoidance are crucial drivers of behavior in humans and animals. These motives ensure survival, reproductive success, and overall well-being by prompting actions that meet essential bodily needs.
Sleep is a fundamental physiological drive that fosters a state of restfulness crucial for several bodily functions. It facilitates body restoration, the process by which the body repairs, rejuvenates, and maintains itself during sleep, including memory...
Sleep is a fundamental physiological drive that fosters a state of restfulness crucial for several bodily functions. It facilitates body restoration, the process by which the body repairs, rejuvenates, and maintains itself during sleep, including memory...
870
03:00Self-Evaluation: Self-Enhancement and Self-Verification
5.2K
Social psychologists have documented that feeling good about ourselves and maintaining positive self-esteem is a powerful motivator of human behavior (Tavris & Aronson, 2008). In the United States, members of the predominant culture typically think very highly of themselves and view themselves as good people who are above average on many desirable traits (Ehrlinger, Gilovich, & Ross, 2005). Often, our behavior, attitudes, and beliefs are affected when we experience a threat to our...
5.2K