Abstract
Risk taking (RT) is a component of the decision-making process in situations that involve uncertainty and in which the probability of each outcome – rewards and/or negative consequences – is already known. The influence of cognitive and emotional processes in decision making may affect how risky situations are addressed. First, inaccurate assessments of situations may constitute a perceptual bias in decision making, which might influence RT. Second, there seems to be consensus that a proneness bias exists, known as risk proneness, which can be defined as the propensity to be attracted to potentially risky activities. In the present study, we take the approach that risk perception and risk proneness affect RT behaviours. The study hypothesises that locus of control, emotion regulation, and executive control act as perceptual biases in RT, and that personality, sensation seeking, and impulsivity traits act as proneness biases in RT. The results suggest that locus of control, emotion regulation and executive control influence certain domains of RT, while personality influences in all domains except the recreational, and sensation seeking and impulsivity are involved in all domains of RT. The results of the study constitute a foundation upon which to build in this research area and can contribute to the increased understanding of human behaviour in risky situations.
Highlights
Risk taking (RT) is a component of the decision-making process in situations that involve uncertainty and in which the probability of all outcomes – rewards and/or negative consequences (Brand et al, 2007) – is already known (Bechara et al, 2005; Krain et al, 2006)
Some authors have suggested that reappraisal is related to positive affect and lower RT, in domains such as smoking, risky drinking (Magar et al, 2008; Fucito et al, 2010) and emotional eating (Evers et al, 2010). These results suggest that the relation between emotion regulation strategies and RT relies heavily upon the decision-making context
The results showed that disinhibition promotes ethical RT, while set switching and agreeableness lead to ethical risk avoidance
Summary
Risk taking (RT) is a component of the decision-making process in situations that involve uncertainty and in which the probability of all outcomes – rewards and/or negative consequences (Brand et al, 2007) – is already known (Bechara et al, 2005; Krain et al, 2006). The decision-making process is influenced by three main elements: decision features, situational factors, and individual differences (Einhorn, 1970; Hunt et al, 1989). Individual differences are the third main factor in the decision-making process. Appelt et al (2011) argued that, the influence of individual differences in decision making has been widely studied, there is no consensus as to how to interpret these relations Individual differences are the third main factor in the decision-making process. Appelt et al (2011) argued that, the influence of individual differences in decision making has been widely studied, there is no consensus as to how to interpret these relations
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