Domain-Specific Risk-Taking Scale Research Articles

Hypnotizability-related risky experience and behavior

Risk is the probability of an adverse event. The proneness to take a risk and the risk taking behavior differ among the general population.Hypnotizability is a stable psychophysiological trait expressing the individual proneness to modify perception, memory and behavior following specific suggestions also in the ordinary state of consciousness. Some hypnotizability-related neurophysiological and behavioral correlates suggest that hypnotizability level, measured by standard scales classifying individuals as low (lows), medium (mediums) and high hypnotizable (highs) subjects, can be related to risk propensity and risk-taking. To study whether hypnotizability modulates risk propensity and behavior, we recruited healthy participants, classified through the Standford Hypnotic Susceptibility scale, form A, and compared lows’ (n = 33), mediums’ (n = 19) and highs’(n = 15) experiential and behavioral risk perception and propensity variables through the Domain-specific risk-taking scale and the Balloon Analogue Risk Task. MANOVA results indicated that different hypnotizability levels are not associated with different risky behavior and experience, except for higher expected financial benefits from risky behavior in lows. However, hypnotizability-related risk profiles were identified through correlational analyses. In fact, highs exhibited a negative association between risk perception and propensity to risk-taking, whereas mediums and lows displayed a positive association between risk propensity and expected benefit. In conclusion, the highs’ profile indicates a more automatic behavior with respect to mediums and lows.

Financial risk-taking in adult attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

PurposeThis study aimed to examine the financial risk-taking behaviors of adult individuals diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).Design/methodology/approachThe study was conducted with adults (n = 80) diagnosed with ADHD and healthy controls (n = 80). In order to measure risk-taking in the financial domain, the items in the investment and gambling sub-dimensions of the Domain-Specific Risk-Taking Scale (DOSPERT) were applied.FindingsAdults with ADHD had higher investment and gambling risk-taking and expected benefits scores than the control group, and there was no difference between the two groups in terms of risk perceptions. In the regression analysis, there was a positive linear relationship between the investment and gambling risk-taking scores and the expected benefits scores in both groups. There was a negative linear relationship between investment risk-taking and risk perceptions scores only in the control group.Originality/valueIn terms of investment and gambling, both risk-taking and expected benefits are greater in individuals with ADHD. It has been observed that while healthy individuals take investment risks, they evaluate according to the expected benefits and risk perceptions, while individuals with ADHD make evaluations only according to the expected benefits, risk perceptions do not predict financial risk-taking in individuals with ADHD. When it comes to risk-taking related to gambling, both groups take risks only according to their expectations of benefits, not their perceptions of risk. The study provides outputs that can contribute to the literature in terms of the effects of ADHD diagnosis on financial decision-making processes in the context of risk-taking.

Correlates of recreational risk-taking behavior: A comparison between the Tower Building Task and two self-report measures

Risk-taking is a ubiquitous behavior and its assessment is a central aspect of understanding human decision-making. Self-report questionnaires can be used to probe risk-taking propensities in a domain-specific manner. In contrast, most behavioral tools for risk-taking assessment provide nonspecific, unitary measures with a strong bias towards risk scenarios involving monetary gains and losses tied to probabilities. In the current work, we evaluate a behavioral task designed to specifically address recreational risk-taking, that is, situations where decision-making is driven by intrinsic motivation and performance is rewarding in its own right. For this, we chose the Tower Building Task (TBT), in which participants use wooden blocks to attempt to build the tallest tower they can; a trial ends if the building collapses, the allotted time ends, or the builder is satisfied with their tower. We correlated the TBT scores with each of the domains provided by two widely used self-report instruments, the Domain-Specific Risk-Taking scale (DOSPERT) and the Evolutionary Domain-Specific Risk scale (ERS). We found small, but significant correlations between TBT scores and those of (i) the recreational domain of the DOSPERT as well as (ii) the environmental exploration domain of the ERS. These correlation values reflect a small degree of similarity between these tests, suggesting that they capture some aspects of the complex construct that is recreation. However, the small magnitude of the correlations highlights the need for a complementary set of tools to evaluate the full spectrum of recreational risk-taking activities.

A comparative study of eight COVID-19 protective measures and their impact on Swiss tourists’ travel intentions

A comparative vignette-based experimental survey design incorporating various socio-psychological factors, linked to the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), the Health Belief Model (HBM) and the Domain-Specific Risk-Taking scale (DOSPERT) was carried out to test variations in eight travel-related COVID-19 protective measures on Swiss tourists’ travel intentions. Among the tested measures, vaccination passports, surgical masks and quarantining are those that stand out the most, with surgical masks having the greatest acceptance and willingness to adopt while traveling. Quarantining, on the other hand, appears to have a deterrent influence on travel intentions, and vaccination passports have the lowest perceived barriers during travel, but the highest perceived benefits in mitigating the spread of the infection. The discussion of individual differences has specific implications for tourism management against the background of our empirical findings.

Towards a typology of risk preference: Four risk profiles describe two-thirds of individuals in a large sample of the U.S. population

It has been a longstanding goal of the behavioral sciences to measure and model people’s risk preferences. In this article, we adopt a novel theoretical perspective of doing so and test to what extent specific types of individuals share similar risk profiles (i.e., configurations of multidimensional risk preferences). To this end, we analyzed data of a U.S. sample (N = 3,123) in a comprehensive and rigorous way, resulting in a twofold contribution. First, based on data from the Domain-Specific Risk-Taking scale (DOSPERT) and using a cross-validation procedure, we established a multidimensional trait space including general and domain-specific dimensions of risk preference. Second, we employed model-based cluster analyses in this multidimensional trait space, finding that 66% of participants can be described well with four basic risk profiles. In sum, the typological perspective proposed in this article has important implications for current theories of risk preference and the measurement of individual differences therein.

Beyond money: Risk preferences across both economic and non-economic contexts predict financial decisions.

Important decisions about risk occur in wide-ranging contexts, from investing to healthcare. While an underlying, domain-general risk attitude has been identified across contexts, it remains unclear what role it plays in shaping behavior relative to more domain-specific risk attitudes. Clarifying the relationship between domain-general and domain-specific risk attitudes would inform decision-making theories and the construction of decision aids. The present research assessed the relative contribution of domain-general and domain-specific risk attitudes to financial risk taking. We examined risk attitudes across different decision domains, as revealed through a well-validated measure, the Domain-Specific Risk-Taking Scale (DOSPERT). Confirmatory factor analysis indicated that a domain-general risk attitude shaped responses across multiple domains, and structural equation modeling showed that this domain-general risk attitude predicted observed behavioral risk premiums in a financial decision-making task better than domain-specific financial risk attitudes. Thus, assessments of risk attitudes that include both economic and non-economic domains improve predictions of financial risk taking due to the enhanced insight they provide into underlying, domain-general risk preferences.

Social Bullying Among Undergraduates: The Roles of Internet Gaming Disorder, Risk-Taking Behavior, and Internet Addiction.

An issue that affects the academic engagement, performance, health and wellbeing of university undergraduates is bullying. Substantial literature has examined the predictors of bullying perpetration, but there is little research on the contributions of internet-related factors and the propensity to take risks in bullying. We examined the roles of IGD, risk-taking behavior, and internet addiction in social bullying. Four instruments were used for data collection, namely: Young Adult Social Behavior Scale (YASB), the Internet Gaming Disorder Scale (IGDS9-SF), Domain-Specific Risk-Taking Scale, and the Internet Addiction Test (IAT) Scale. Participants were 552 undergraduate students from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka consisting of 143 males and 409 females (age range = 17–32 years; M = 21.45; SD = 2.71). Results of regression analysis showed that gaming disorder (GD) and risk-taking behavior had positive associations with social bullying. Thus, the more people grow addicted to internet gaming and takes more risks, the more they are likely to become bullies. Internet addiction had no significant association with social bullying. Efforts should be made to minimize the rate of dysfunctional internet use, GD and risk-taking behaviors of undergraduates in order to curtail bullying perpetration.

Pointers to Interventions for Promoting COVID-19 Protective Measures in Tourism: A Modelling Approach Using Domain-Specific Risk-Taking Scale, Theory of Planned Behaviour, and Health Belief Model

Pointers to Interventions for Promoting COVID-19 Protective Measures in Tourism: A Modelling Approach Using Domain-Specific Risk-Taking Scale, Theory of Planned Behaviour, and Health Belief Model

Pointers to Interventions for Promoting COVID-19 Protective Measures in Tourism: A Modelling Approach Using Domain-Specific Risk-Taking Scale, Theory of Planned Behaviour, and Health Belief Model.

Based on the factors of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), the Health Belief Model (HBM), and the DOSPERT scale, used to measure general risk-taking behaviour, a combined model has been developed for investigating tourists’ intentions to implement protective measures against the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The purpose of the study is to formulate a model that Swiss tourism practitioners can use to understand tourists’ decision-making regarding the acceptance and proper implementation of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs). A large-scale cross-sectional population study that is representative for the Swiss population has been designed to validate the model (N = 1,683; 39% response rate). In our empirical investigation, a simple regression analysis is used to detect significant factors and their strength. Our empirical findings show that the significant effects can be ordered regarding descending effect size from severity (HBM), attitude (TPB), perceived behavioural control (TPB), subjective norm (TPB), self-efficacy (HBM), and perceived barriers (HBM) to susceptibility (HBM). Based on this information, intervention strategies and corresponding protective measures were linked to the social-psychological factors based on an expert workshop. Low-cost interventions for tourists (less time, less money, and more comfort), such as the free provision of accessories (free mask and sanitizers) or free testing (at cable cars), can increase the perceived behavioural control and lower the perceived barriers and thus increase the acceptance of this protective measure.

The Relationship Between Sleep Quality and Risk-Taking Behaviors in Emerging Adults: The Mediating Role of Resilience and Gender Difference

Previous studies have shown that sleep quality is associated with risk-taking behaviors, but the psychological mechanism of this relationship is unclear among emerging adults at university. In the present study, we examined the relationship among sleep quality, resilience, and risk-taking behaviors in college students. A sample of 1221 college students (50.4% females, M age = 22.58, SD = 1.28) was enrolled in our survey. The Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI), domain-specific risk-taking scale, and Connor–Davidson resilience scale were used to test sleep quality, risk-taking behaviors, and resilience. The results showed that PSQI scores positively correlated with risk-taking behaviors, and the poor sleep quality increased participants’ risk-taking behaviors by decreasing resilience. The findings suggested that resilience played a mediating role between sleep quality and risk-taking behaviors among college students. The relationships between sleep quality and risk-taking behaviors, and sleep quality and resilience were moderated by gender. Specifically, the association between sleep quality and resilience was greater in females than in males; however, the association between sleep quality and risk-taking behaviors was greater in males than in females. The present study revealed that prevention and intervention aimed at improving sleep are needed to enhance resilience and reduce risk-taking behaviors.

A combined theory-based explanatory model for predicting tourists’ travel intentions during the COVID-19 pandemic: the role of individual’s assessment of the compliance with non-pharmaceutical interventions

This study examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and tourist’s assessments of non-pharmaceutical public-health interventions (NPIs) in relation to their travel intentions. It uses a combined theoretical model that incorporates the Domain-Specific Risk-Taking Scale (DOSPERT) in the recreational domain, the Health Belief Model (HBM) and the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB). A large-scale population study that is representative of Switzerland has been carried out to validate the model (N = 1683; 39% response rate). We use a regression model based on mean indices for our explanatory model. Health beliefs, namely perceived susceptibility and severity, are important predictors of travel intentions. The perceived benefits of and barriers to compliance with NPIs when travelling also have a substantial influence on travel intentions. The results demonstrated that the factors of the HBM tend to have a stronger influence than other significant factors, such as the perceived behavioural control of the TPB. As a situational context, the ability to work from home increases the intention to travel. The achievement of the present research is a validated empirical theory-based model that is suitable for practical and managerial implications. It can be used to create and evaluate measures and interventions that address the social psychological influencing factors.

Your Face Mirrors Your Deepest Beliefs—Predicting Personality and Morals through Facial Emotion Recognition

Can we really “read the mind in the eyes”? Moreover, can AI assist us in this task? This paper answers these two questions by introducing a machine learning system that predicts personality characteristics of individuals on the basis of their face. It does so by tracking the emotional response of the individual’s face through facial emotion recognition (FER) while watching a series of 15 short videos of different genres. To calibrate the system, we invited 85 people to watch the videos, while their emotional responses were analyzed through their facial expression. At the same time, these individuals also took four well-validated surveys of personality characteristics and moral values: the revised NEO FFI personality inventory, the Haidt moral foundations test, the Schwartz personal value system, and the domain-specific risk-taking scale (DOSPERT). We found that personality characteristics and moral values of an individual can be predicted through their emotional response to the videos as shown in their face, with an accuracy of up to 86% using gradient-boosted trees. We also found that different personality characteristics are better predicted by different videos, in other words, there is no single video that will provide accurate predictions for all personality characteristics, but it is the response to the mix of different videos that allows for accurate prediction.

COLD HEARTS PLAYING WITH FIRE: THE DARK TRIAD, RISK-TAKING AND EMPATHY

Background: The Dark Triad personalities have been well studied, however, it is not often linked with empathy and risk-taking intentions. The present study aims to address this gap by examining the association between the Dark Triad personality traits, empathy and risk-taking intentions in the five domains – ethical, financial, health/safety, social, and recreational. Method: A sample of 160 young adults residing in Malaysia (Male=69, Female=99, Mage=22.01, SD=2.03) completed the Short Dark Triad Questionnaire, Empathy Scale, and Domain-Specific Risk-Taking Scale through an online survey. Results: Machiavellianism and Psychopathy were positively associated with the five domains of risk-taking, including social, ethical, financial, recreational and health/safety domains, and negatively associated with empathy. Narcissism, on the contrary, was positively correlated to all risk-taking domains except for recreational risk-taking, and showed no significant relationship to empathy. Empathy was a significant predictor in social risk-taking whereas Machiavellianism and Psychopathy were significant predictors in ethical risk-taking intentions. Conclusion: This study expanded existing knowledge on the Dark Triad personalities by demonstrating a link between each Dart Triad trait, potential risk-taking behaviours and empathy.

The Dark Tetrad in the prediction of self-reported and behavioural risk-taking

ABSTRACT Objective The explanatory power of the Dark Tetrad of personality (i.e., sub-clinical traits of sadism, psychopathy, narcissism and Machiavellianism) in the prediction of risk-taking behaviours is yet to be determined. This study aimed to predict both self-reported and behavioural risk-taking from the four dark trait variables. Method Participants (N = 216) completed an online survey using the Short Dark Triad, the Assessment of Sadistic Personality, the Domain-Specific Risk-Taking Scale and the automatic Balloon Analogue Risk Task. It was hypothesised that psychopathy would positively predict risk-taking, and sadism would uniquely positively predict risk-taking. Results Both hypotheses were partially supported as psychopathy and sadism positively uniquely predicted self-reported risk-taking, but this was not significant for psychopathy after a Bonferroni correction. Furthermore, psychopathy and sadism were not significant predictors of behavioural risk-taking. Conclusions Detection of factors that motivate individuals to engage in risk-taking behaviours could be valuable in clinical interventions.

Resting-State Theta Oscillations and Reward Sensitivity in Risk Taking.

Females demonstrate greater risk aversion than males on a variety of tasks, but the underlying neurobiological basis is still unclear. We studied how theta (4–7 Hz) oscillations at rest related to three different measures of risk taking. Thirty-five participants (15 females) completed the Bomb Risk Elicitation Task (BRET), which allowed us to measure risk taking during an economic game. The Domain-Specific Risk-Taking Scale (DOSPERT) was used to measure self-assessed risk attitudes as well as reward and punishment sensitivities. In addition, the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS11) was included to quantify impulsiveness. To obtain measures of frontal theta asymmetry and frontal theta power, we used magnetoencephalography (MEG) acquired prior to task completion, while participants were at rest. Frontal theta asymmetry correlated with average risk taking during the game but only in the female sample. By contrast, frontal theta power correlated with risk taking as well as with measures of reward and punishment sensitivity in the joint sample. Importantly, we showed that reward sensitivity mediated a correlation between risk taking and the power of theta oscillations localized to the anterior cingulate cortex. In addition, we observed significant sex differences in source- and sensor-space theta power, risk taking during the game, and reward sensitivity. Our findings suggest that sensitivity to rewards, associated with resting-state theta oscillations in the anterior cingulate cortex, is a trait that potentially contributes to sex differences in risk taking.

Personality Profile of Risk-Takers

Abstract. Risk-taking is a long-standing area of inquiry among psychologists and economists. In this paper, we examine the personality profile of risk-takers in two independent samples. Specifically, we examined the association between the Big Five facets and risk-taking propensity across two measures: The Domain-Specific Risk-Taking Scale (DOSPERT) and the General Risk Propensity Scale (GRiPS). At the Big Five domain level, we found that extraversion and agreeableness were the primary predictors of risk-taking. However, facet-level analyses revealed that responsibility, a facet of conscientiousness, explained most of the total variance accounted for by the Big Five in both risk-taking measures. Based on our findings across two samples ( n = 764), we find that the personality profile of a risk-taker is extraverted, open to experiences, disagreeable, emotionally stable, and irresponsible. Implications for the risk measurement are discussed.

Evaluation tool for assessing the influence of structural health monitoring on decision-maker risk preferences

Different rationally behaving individuals can make different decisions even under same conditions. Concept of risk preference is one way of describing this discrepancy. Risk preference refers to the way decision-makers weight different risky options. Expected utility theory is a popular way to treat this weighting mathematically. Previous research in the field of structural health monitoring has shown that in a multi-stakeholder decision-making, discrepancies in risk preferences between the stakeholders can have large effects on the feasibility of structural health monitoring implementation. Results from that previous research obtained using expected utility theory showed that under certain conditions, differences in stakeholder risk attitudes can make the value of structural health monitoring system even negative. As the overall aim of structural health monitoring is to enable systematic data-based management of infrastructure, understanding of risk preferences and their effect on the structural health monitoring decision-making is of paramount importance. In this work, we created a risk preference assessment tool that is derived from Domain-Specific Risk-Taking scale. We propose the tool and explain its development and validation. The validation results indicate that the proposed assessment tool is technically sound and has high potential in the future valuation of human factors influencing decision-making based on structural health monitoring.

Personal Values and Cyber Risk-Taking:

This research explores the relationship between personal values and the tendency to take cyber-risks. We first develop and add six cyber-risk items to the well-known Domain-Specific Risk-Taking (DOSPERT) scale. Importantly, we show that like the other five domains examined by the scale (Health, Ethical, Financial, Recreational, and Social), these cyber items form a separate cluster. Separate clusters are essential in order to employ the DOSPERT scale. We then examine the association between values and cyber risk taking behavior. We find that “conservation (conservatism)” values are negatively correlated with the tendency to take cyber risks. Thus, individuals for whom this value is important are less likely to take cyber risks. We also find that “openness to change” values are positively associated with the tendency to take cyber-risks. Individuals with high scores for this value are more likely to take cyber risks. The findings point to possible “values based” interventions in order to increase cyber-security.

Risk-seeking attitude in health and safety domain is associated with continuous positive airway pressure discontinuation in patients with obstructive sleep apnea—a multicenter prospective cohort study

Many studies have already looked at factors that may influence adherence to continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) (severity of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), patients' age, technical aspects, socioeconomic factors, living conditions, psychological factors). Although it has been shown that individuals' preference for risky behaviors in daily life can influence the use of care or adherence to drug therapies in care settings, this has never been tested in OSA. This study aims to analyze the association between risk attitude in the health/safety domain and CPAP discontinuation in a cohort of OSA patients. In a prospective multicenter cohort study nested within the IRSR sleep cohort, consecutive patients who were prescribed CPAP were monitored for at least 6 months. In addition to the data usually collected in the IRSR sleep cohort at baseline, patients also completed a risk-taking questionnaire using the Domain-Specific Risk-Taking (DOSPERT) scale. Cox's proportional hazards regression was used to model the risk of CPAP discontinuation as a function of a linear combination of variables hypothetically related to this risk including health risk attitude. Of the 489 patients under CPAP, 12.1% (n = 59) were risk-seeking, 87.9% (n = 430) were risk-neutral, and none were risk-averse. Cox's model indicated that a risk-seeking attitude (p = 0.04) and an AHI <30 (p < 0.01) were significantly associated with CPAP discontinuation. Patients with risk-seeking behaviors in daily life have been shown to be more likely to discontinue CPAP. The DOSPERT scale can be a useful tool for screening this specific group of patients in clinical practice.

The Dark Tetrad and advantageous and disadvantageous risk-taking

Research on the Dark Tetrad and engagement in risk taking behaviour has predominately focused on the maladaptive consequences associated with risk-taking. However, risk-taking is not always maladaptive and in some contexts can be adaptive. Some characteristics of the dark traits are more likely to lead to positive outcomes than others and may prove beneficial in certain risk-taking circumstances. The current study aimed to investigate which Dark Tetrad personality traits were related to advantageous and disadvantageous risk-taking. For the purpose of this research, the life domains within the Domain Specific Risk-Taking Scale were used to conceptualise advantageous and disadvantageous risk-taking. The hypothesis that narcissism would positively predict advantageous and disadvantageous risk-taking was supported, and the hypothesis that psychopathy would positively predict advantageous and disadvantageous risk-taking was partially supported. These findings provide insight into the complex nature of the dark traits and their influence on risk-taking.