Explaining Risk Attitude in Framing Tasks by Regulatory Focus: A Verbal Protocol Analysis and a Simulation Using Fuzzy Logic

Abstract

We investigate the role of salient regulatory focus for risk attitude in framed gambles. In Experiment 1 we measured regulatory focus by collecting verbal protocols and found that people avoided risk under prevention focus and preferred risk under promotion focus. In Experiment 2 the same result was found when measuring people's regulatory focus with a questionnaire. Finally, the questionnaire data were used as inputs for simulating the choices of our participants by a fuzzy-logic decision generator. The findings show that regulatory focus has a strong effect on risk attitude and that risk attitude in framing tasks can be successfully modeled as some form of fuzzy processing.