Does acute psychosocial stress alter risk-taking behavior under competitive conditions? - An experimental pilot study

When under stress, individuals often make suboptimal decisions due to altered decision-making strategies. These alterations may be particularly costly in high-risk scenarios, yet the precise relationship between acute stress and risk-taking behavior remains unclear. In the present pilot study, using a quasi-experimental design, we examined whether an experimentally induced psychosocial stressor would elevate RTB under competitive conditions. We assessed 63 participants (51 women, 12 men; M_Age = 21.3 years) that were assigned to either an experimental stress condition (Trier Social Stress Test for Groups; TSST-G) or a passive control condition. Subjective stress was measured using a visual analogue scale; RTB was assessed via the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART). Both of these measures were administered both pre- and post-intervention. Consistent with our first hypothesis, we found that the TSST-G successfully induced subjective stress, with participants in the TSST-G reporting significantly higher stress than controls. Concerning our second hypothesis, Bayesian analysis indicated a 94 % one-sided posterior probability that stress increased the number of balloon pops across assessments more in the experimental group than in the control group (p = .10). The pre-to-posttest change in the mean number of balloon pumps was not significant between groups. Thus, acute stress may amplify RTB when decisions are made in a competitive context, although the present evidence should be considered preliminary, laying the groundwork for a full-scale study including the assessment of stress-related biomarkers to study the relationship between RTB and the two major stress systems, the HPA axis and the autonomic nervous system.