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You bet: How personality differences affect risk-taking preferences
Abstract
Individuals exhibit personal preferences in gambling games, like slot machines, even when their options are economically equivalent. Here we explore how personality differences affect risk-taking preferences in slot-like games that vary along two dimensions of a risk space, namely the wager amount or “utility” (in a “W-game”) and the winning chances or “probability” (in a “P-game”). The independent variables are personality measurements made by three scales: the Behavioral Inhibition/Activation Scales (BIS/BAS), the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale, and the Zuckerman Sensation-Seeking Scale. Our results suggest that risk-taking is governed more by concern for a loss (measured by BIS) than desire for a win (measured by BAS), although both variables impact risk-taking preferences. We also find that Sensation-Seeking relates more to the chances (probability) of a win than the amount (utility) of a win. Impulsivity did not affect players’ choices in either game, presumably because it affects the choice to play or not play in the first place.
... Hence, the choices in those experiments reflect preferences for expected utility. In the present research, we use a computer program designed in-house called the Cognitive Affective Slots Experiments (CASE) (for more information on the CASE, see Demaree et al., 2008). The CASE involves "free-choice, repeated gambles" in which participants select a free parameter (W) in a series of trials, and the outcomes of all trials are received. ...
... The present study used the Cognitive-Affective Slot Experiments (CASE, Demaree et al., 2008Demaree et al., , 2012Juergensen et al., 2014). The CASE is similar to a slot machine, except that it also assesses participants' self-reported emotional states after each outcome. ...
... Consistent with previous research using W as a measure of risk-taking (e.g., Gneezy and Potters, 1997;Demaree et al., 2008), W is the measure of change in risk-taking from one trial to the next. ...
Previous research indicates that when people participate in multi-trial games of chance, the results of previous trials impact subsequent wager size. For example, the "house money" and "break even" effects suggest that an individual's risk-taking propensity increases when financially winning or losing during a gambling session. Additionally, the "mood maintenance hypothesis" and affect regulation hypothesis suggest that people in positive and negative affective states are less and more likely to gamble than when in neutral affective states, respectively. In the present study, participants completed a series of trials on three computerized slot machines with varying expected values (EV; -10, 0, +10%) of return on investment, and they were paid a percentage of their final bankrolls in real money. Although results did not support the "house money" or "break even" effects, the "mood maintenance hypothesis" was robustly supported in all EV conditions. This is some of the first evidence supporting this theory using an ecologically valid, real-money gambling task.
... Furthermore, in a study using a simulated slot machine, BIS and the BIS/BAS ratio were negatively associated with bet-sizes (Demaree, DeDonno, Burns, & Everhart, 2008). Based on these studies, it is difficult to draw clear conclusions about the BIS/BAS and risk-taking relationship. ...
... They will sometimes take great risks in the hope that they win large sums of money in the immediate future rather than take smaller risks to avoid losing substantial sums over time. Indeed, this was supported in a study which showed that a PG group had poorer performance on the IGT compared to a control group (Goudriaan, et al., 2005 Laboratory studies of gambling behaviour in non-clinical samples have used several different tasks that are more or less analogous to commercial gambling games, for instance, the IGT (Bechara, et al., 1994) and a simulated slot machine (Demaree, et al., 2008). Whilst such gambling tasks may be analogous to commercial gambling games, they can perhaps also be construed as measures of risk-taking or riskavoidance. ...
... The results showed no associations between any of the BIS/BAS scales and IGT performance. This finding was not expected given that a previous study found associations between risk-taking and the BIS and the BIS/BAS ratio score (Demaree, et al., 2008). A likely explanation for this discrepancy concerns the operationalisation of risk-taking. ...
... There is equivocal support for BAS as a motivator of gambling. Studies by Brunborg, Johnsen, Mentzoni, Molde, and Pallesen (2011) and Demaree, DeDonno, Burns, and Everhart (2008) both found that BAS scores correlated with average wager on simulated slot machine games. MacLaren, Fugelsang, Harrigan and Dixon (2012) showed three out of four BAS subscales correlated with problem gambling among Canadian slot machine players. ...
... It is possible that the gradual build up in excitement during a horse race is particularly rewarding for those seeking increased arousal. It has been suggested that high sensation seekers will run the risk of monetary loss for the positive reinforcement of highly arousing states experienced through uncertainty and novelty of a potential win (Demaree et al., 2008). Individuals high in sensation seeking may be driven to gamble for reinforcement by these rewards because of a strong BAS. ...
... They did not, on the whole, gamble to escape tension but to intensify it, a result, according to Gray (1990) of the heightened sensitivities of the dopaminergic reward pathways of the brains of BAS-dominated individuals. By way of comparison, some previous studies have shown relationships between gambling frequency, problem gambling and BAS levels (Brunborg et al., 2011;Demaree et al., 2008;MacLaren et al., 2012), but in others these links have been ambiguous or absent (Eitle & Taylor, 2010;O'Connor et al., 2009). However none of these studies examined separately, as we did, the effects of gambling preference on the relationships between reward sensitivity and frequency of gambling. ...
Horse race and electronic gaming machine (EGM) gambling are popular forms of gambling, however the key motivational drivers to participation in these different forms are not clear. and Reward Sensitivity theory (RST) and Blaszczynski and Nower’s (2002) cognitive behavioural pathways model of pathological gambling (PG) provide potential frameworks for examining these drivers. The aim of this study was to explore the relationships between gambling choice, gambling frequency and personality factors deriving from the models of Gray (sensitivity to reward, sensitivity to punishment), and Blaszczynski and Nower (sensation seeking, impulsivity, escapist motivation). The sample comprised 118 current gamblers who gambled twice or more per year on either horse racing or EGMs (77 male, 41 female, Mage 26.93 years). Horse race and EGM gamblers showed very different patterns of correlates. Horse race gambling frequency was independently predicted by male gender and sensitivity to reward, while the significant independent predictors of EGM gambling were escapist motivation and sensitivity to punishment. Results provide support for conceptualising frequent gamblers as a heterogeneous group with respect to their motivational drivers, with gambling preferences offering an important indicator of underlying motivations for gambling.
... Since an Aha! moment can feel rewarding, an individual's responsiveness to reward may interact with the Aha! effect on risk decision-making. Reward responsiveness has been directly related to risk preference (Demaree et al., 2008). However, it is not clear how reward response might interact with Aha! to influence the moment-to-moment shift in risk preference. ...
... The scales gauge each participant's sensitivity to negative outcomes (behavioral inhibition system, or BIS) and sensitivity to positive outcomes (behavioral activation system, or BAS). BIS/BAS scale has been directly related to risk preference (Demaree et al., 2008). The questionnaire includes a total of 23 items scored on a 4-point scale. ...
Solving problems with insight culminates in an “Aha! moment”: a feeling of confidence and pleasure. In daily life, insights are often followed by important decisions, such as deciding what to do with a new idea. Here, we investigated whether having an Aha! moment affects subsequent decision-making. Because Aha! moments tend to elicit positive affect, which is generally associated with an increased risk-taking tendency, we hypothesized that people would favor a monetary payout with more upside despite greater uncertainty after solving a problem with insight. Participants were asked to solve verbal puzzles and report whether they solved them with insight or without insight. After each puzzle, they chose between two bonuses: a fixed payout or a risk payout with 50% chance of receiving a high or a low payout. Participants were more likely to choose the risk payout after they solved with insight compared to without, suggesting a temporarily higher risk preference. The study provided preliminary evidence of a carryover effect - the impact of an Aha! moment on the subsequent risk choice - that can have implications in everyday decision-making.
... For example, past results showed that lower levels of BIS and higher levels of BAS predicted the use of alcohol and cigarettes (Giles & Price, 2008) and that higher BAS was a positive predictor of substance use (Franken & Muris, 2006). Moreover, BIS and BAS were found to have opposing effects on risk-taking preferences (Demaree et al., 2008) and on decisions taken after losing in a gambling task (Kim & Lee, 2011). Specifically, people with high BIS and low BAS were more likely to make a safer decision after having lost in gambling (Kim & Lee, 2011). ...
... Thus, Study 1 offers a novel perspective suggesting that basic temperamental dispositions predispose individuals to abuse others on the Internet for their own enjoyment. The results from Study 1 are in line with previous research findings emphasizing the role of high BAS and low BIS in engaging in approach behaviors, for instance, that BIS was negatively, and BAS positively associated with substance use (Stenason & Vernon, 2016), and that BIS and BAS systems may impact risk-taking preferences (Demaree et al., 2008). Moreover, the present findings contribute to the literature showing BIS/BAS associations with interpersonal difficulties (e.g., aspects of cyber-aggression; Runions et al., 2017). ...
Internet trolling is a provocative or offensive online behavior linked to engaging in anonymous activities that evoke negative feelings in other people. We analyzed the relationships between Internet trolling, Dark Triad traits (i.e., psychopathy, narcissism, and Machiavellianism), and the Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS)/Behavioral Approach System (BAS) in two studies. Study 1 involved a national quota sample representative of Polish young adults (N = 1,048, aged 18–25), and Study 2 involved a national quota sample of adult Poles (N = 432, aged 18–84). In both studies, we hypothesized and found that Internet trolling is predicted by low BIS and high BAS and that these relationships are mediated by high levels of psychopathy. These findings suggest that the basic temperamental dispositions may predispose individuals to irritate others on the Internet for one’s own enjoyment due to high (vs. low) levels of psychopathy. We discuss the role of temperamental and personality traits in shaping offensive online behavior.
... 구 행동을 설명하고 예측하기 위한 변수로 다루어 져 왔다 (Humphreys, Lee, & Tottenham, 2013;Lejuez et al., 2002;Slater, Hayes, & Ford, 2007;Zabel et al, 2009). 감각추구성향이 위험에 대한 흥미를 중재하는 역할을 하기 때문이다 (Slater, Hayes, & Ford, 2007 (Dahlen & White, 2006;Demaree et al, 2008;Zabel et al, 2009;Horvath & Zuckerman, 1993;Jonah, 1997 (Han, 2003;Kim & Lee, 2002;Lee, Kim, & Park, 1996;Ryu & Yoon, 2008;Woo & Kim, 2012;Yang, 2001 (Kim, Cho, & Lee, 2001;Ryu & Yoon, 2008;Soh, 2012 (Bond, 2004;Bond & Smith, 1996; (Cho, 1999;Soh, 2012 Smoking cigarettes is pleasurable. ...
... 따라서 이 연구에서는 사회적 흡연동조와 감각추 구성향이 지각된 손익을 거쳐 흡연의도에 미치는 영향을 살펴보고자 한다. 이러한 연구 가설 및 연 구문제 설정은 위험추구 행동이 단순히 자제력 부 족에서 오는 현상이 아니라 위험에 대한 손익을 비 교했을 때 손실에 비한 이익이 크기 때문에 벌어지 는 일이라는 선행연구의 결과를 토대로 한다(Demaree et al, 2008;Wolburg, 2001;Zimmermann, 2010). 연구는 위험추구 행동을 결정하는 위험에 대 한 지각된 손익에 영향을 미치는 변수로 감각추구성 향과 사회적 흡연 동조를 살펴보고자 하였다. ...
The study investigates the influence of sensation seeking, perceived smoking benefits/barriers, and social smoking conformity on the intention of smoking cigarettes in the context of Koreans' risk taking behaviors. Researchers expected that perceived smoking benefits/barriers mediate between sensation seeking and smoking intention, also between social smoking conformity and smoking intention. According to the results, the interaction effect between sensation seeking and social smoking conformity on perceived smoking benefits/barriers is statistically significant. Perceived smoking benefits/barriers do not mediate between sensation seeking and smoking, however, they fully mediate between social smoking conformity and smoking intention. The results also indicate that the three-way interaction effect among sensation seeking, perceived smoking benefits/barriers and social smoking conformity on smoking intention is not statistically significant, but the main effect of social smoking conformity on the intention of smoking cigarettes is statistically significant. Based on these results, the study emphasizes the importance of social smoking conformity as a cultural variable to understand risk-taking behaviors in South Korea.
... Furthermore, people who risk more on gambling games may report greater surprise no matter the outcome (win or loss) because their wagers will be of greater magnitude and therefore more meaningful compared to those who wager less. On games involving risk, including the slot machine paradigm used in the present research (e.g., Demaree et al. 2008), there exist large individual differences in terms of risk-taking behavior (e.g., Demaree et al. 2009;Gupta et al. 2006;Knutson and Bossaerts 2007;Kuhnen and Knutson 2005;Langewisch and Frisch 1998). As such, the present study provides an excellent test bed to determine whether more meaningful (larger) wagers produce greater selfreported surprise-no matter the outcome (win or loss). ...
... The present study used Cognitive-Affective Slot Experiments (CASE, Demaree et al. 2008). 1 The CASE resembles a slot machine, but differs in that they assess the participant's self-reported emotional state after each outcome. Participants were first given instructions about how to play the game and were accurately informed that the game was ''fair'' (the vigorish, or ''rake,'' was set to 0.0 %). ...
The present research was designed to better understand how the magnitude of experienced surprise is affected by both individual difference variables as well as variations in surprise-eliciting stimuli. Eighty-five participants played 5 versions of a slot machine-like game. The five games only differed with respect to the probability of winning each trial—10 % (i.e., wins were highly unusual), 30, 50, 70, and 90 % (i.e., losses were highly unusual). Players were given a fictitious ‘‘bankroll’’ at the beginning of each game and played up to 25 trials of each game. On each trial, players selected their wager amount, ‘‘pulled’’ the handle, learned the outcome (win or loss), and reported their surprise level using a 1 (none) to 9 (extremely) Likert
scale. Replicating past research, results revealed that self reported
surprise was inversely related to outcome probability and that wins were rated as more surprising than
losses, even when wins and losses occurred at the same level of probability. Novel results include finding that larger wagers predicted greater felt surprise (regardless of
outcome), and that women reported greater surprise to both wins and losses than men.
... Within this theory, sensitivity to reward appears to be a factor that may explain why some but not all individuals transition from social gambling to problematic gambling. Indeed, several studies have found a positive relation between measures of appetitive motivation and gambling and gambling outcomes (e.g., MacLaren et al., 2012;Mercer & Eastwood, 2010); however, a metaanalysis found a significant negative relation between extraversion and problem gambling (Strømme et al., 2021) Despite the proposed role of aversive motivation in problematic gambling, studies have found significant positive and negative correlations between gambling and aversive motivation (Balodis et al., 2014;Demaree et al., 2008), and a significant positive correlation between neuroticism and gambling (Strømme et al., 2021). ...
Appetitive and aversive motivation are prominent in theories of dysregulated behaviors. The authors conducted a meta-analysis of the association between individual differences in appetitive and aversive motivation and several dysregulated behaviors (i.e., alcohol use, marijuana use, tobacco use, binge eating, aggression, gambling, and nonsuicidal self-injury). Alcohol use (r = .17, k = 141), marijuana use (r = .13, k = 23), aggression (r = .22, k = 52), and gambling (r = .08, k = 55) were all significantly positively related to appetitive motivation. Binge eating (r = .28, k = 34) and self-injury (r = .17, k = 10) were significantly positively related to aversive motivation. Effect sizes were similar to the median effect size in personality research. Together, these results provide some evidence that some dysregulated behaviors are more correlated with approach motivation, whereas others are more correlated with aversive motivation, which may indicate distinct etiological pathways.
... In addition, document that higher levels of extraversion are related to health-related risky behavior 40 years after childhood. The extraversionrisk-taking association is reportedly driven by the general propensity for sensation seeking and impulsivity (Demaree et al. 2008;Nicholson et al. 2005). ...
We examine the effect of CEO extraversion on corporate performance during the Global Financial Crisis (GFC). Contrary to the expectation that extraverted CEOs should shield firms better from GFC adversities, we document that the extraversion characteristic of CEOs places a significant, though negative, effect on corporate performance during the financial crisis. Our findings are robust to controlling for other CEO personality traits. We also perform a battery of robustness tests and validate the underperformance of firms with extraverted CEOs during the GFC using stock returns and measures of operating performance. We argue that because extraverted CEOs are associated with heightened firm risk profile, this can hurt firms when the market disciplines excessive risk-taking during the crisis.
... Regarding impulsive sensation seeking, our results are mainly in agreement with the existing literature. Literature about the links between sensation seeking and problem gambling is split, showing either a link between them (Demaree et al., 2008;Smith et al., 2010) or the absence of links (Bonnaire et al., 2009;Parke et al., 2004). These results may be explained by the heterogeneity of gambling, as more recent literature has shown that sensation seeking may be involved in problem gambling in some, but not all, types of gambling (Bonnaire et al., 2009). ...
Blaszczynski and Nower’s (Addiction 97:487–499, 2002) Pathways Model, an integrative model based on problem gamblers’ paths and comorbidities, aids in understanding the heterogeneity of problem gamblers’ profiles by classifying them into three subgroups. The profiles of problem gamblers may be linked to the type of gambling practiced. Poker is a popular game, primarily due to the involvement of both chance and strategy in its outcome. However, no study has attempted to fit poker players into the Pathways Model. We recruited an online sample of 245 regular poker players (including 146 non-problem gamblers, 83 problem-gambling poker players, and 16 probable pathological gamblers). We assessed multiple variables (impulsivity, sensation seeking, alcohol and tobacco consumption, anxiety, depression, cognitive distortions) from the Pathways Model to determine whether the profiles of poker players fit into one or more gambler subgroups. Cluster analysis showed that poker players had a unique profile with a gambling practice intensity gradient. Compared to non-problem gamblers, problem gamblers displayed significantly higher levels of depression, impulsivity, gambling-related cognitive distortions, and alcohol consumption. Our results suggest that problem-gambling poker players fit into Blaszczynski and Nower’s behaviorally conditioned gamblers group. This study opens avenues for both research into and treatment for problem gambling among poker players.
... In addition, document that higher levels of extraversion are related to health-related risky behavior 40 years after childhood. The extraversionrisk-taking association is reportedly driven by the general propensity for sensation seeking and impulsivity (Demaree et al. 2008;Nicholson et al. 2005). ...
We examine the effect of CEO extraversion on corporate performance during the Global Financial Crisis (GFC). Contrary to the expectation that extraverted CEOs should shield firms better from GFC adversities, we document that the extraversion characteristic of CEOs places a significant, though negative, effect on corporate performance during the financial crisis. Our findings are robust to controlling for other CEO personality traits. We also perform a battery of robustness tests and validate the underperformance of firms with extraverted CEOs during the GFC using stock returns and measures of operating performance. We argue that because extraverted CEOs are associated with heightened firm risk profile, this can hurt firms when the market disciplines excessive risk-taking during the crisis.
... Recent studies in these fields emphasize the importance of attaining an interdisciplinary approach to understanding individual differences in RTB, integrating findings from the fields of psychology, genetics, physiology and neuroscience to provide a more accurate account of how decisions are made under risk (Mishra 2014). The majority of interdisciplinary studies focused on differences in RTB by psychological traits, which possess both genetic and environmental roots (Demaree et al. 2008;Figner and Weber 2011). However, these traits are complex in terms of their neural and physiological representations and may differ across time due to changes in environmental factors, making it challenging to predict RTB. ...
... Apart from demographic factors, previous research also investigated the effect of psychosocial factors on risk-taking (Demaree et al., 2008;Figner et al., 2011). While some studies investigated the role of psychosocial factors, such as social support and experiences of stressful life events, the majority of studies in the field of economics focused on the role of psychological traits. ...
... This variation persisted across participants and focus group sessions, even though the focus group composition was similar regarding demographic characteristics. This finding is consistent with previous literature stating that play preference, inclination to play, and the meaning of play are associated with many variables such as culture [54][55][56], personality [57][58][59], gender [60][61][62], and play frequency [63,64]. Attesting to the variable nature of play liking is that even negative affect, such as feelings of guilt or antisocial behaviors like sadism and violence [65][66][67], can be pursued in play and games and might be considered pleasurable in certain contexts [68][69][70][71]. ...
Background
In times where distance learning is becoming the norm, game-based learning (GBL) is increasingly applied to health profession education. Yet, decisions for if, when, how, and for whom GBL should be designed cannot be made on a solid empirical basis. Though the act of play seems to be intertwined with GBL, it is generally ignored in the current scientific literature.
Objective
The objective of our study was to explore students’ perceptions of play in leisure time and of GBL as part of a mechanistic, bottom-up approach towards evidence-informed design and implementation of GBL in health profession education.
Methods
We conducted 6 focus group discussions with medical and dentistry students, which were analyzed using thematic analysis.
Results
A total of 58 students participated. We identified 4 major themes based on the students’ perception of play in leisure time and on the combination of play and learning. Our results indicate that, while play preferences were highly various in our health profession student cohort, pleasure was the common ground reported for playing. Crucially, play and the serious act of learning seemed paradoxical, indicating that the value and meaning of play are strongly context-dependent for students.
Conclusions
Four key points can be constructed from our study. First, students play for pleasure. Perceptions of pleasure vary considerably among students. Second, students consider play as inefficient. Inefficiency will only be justified when it increases learning. Third, play should be balanced with the serious and only be used for difficult or tedious courses. Fourth, GBL activities should not be made compulsory for students. We provide practical implications and directions for future research.
... First, SRPs seem to show both higher test-retest stability and convergent validity relative to RRPs Mata, Frey, Richter, Schupp, & Hertwig, 2018;Pedroni et al., 2017). Second, there exists strong evidence for a relation between SRPs and personality measures (e.g., Big-5 traits;Frey et al., 2017;Mata et al., 2018;Nicholson et al., 2005), and although some studies have documented a relation between RRPs and personality measures such as impulsiveness (Demaree, DeDonno, Burns, & Everhart, 2008;Demaree, DeDonno, Burns, Feldman, & Everhart, 2009;Rosenbaum & Hartley, 2018) others have failed to identify such a link or only found low degrees of association (Becker, Deckers, Dohmen, Falk, Kosse, 2012). ...
Key issues in the behavioral sciences are if there exist stable risk preferences that generalize across domains and if these are best measured by revealed risk preference (RRP) in behavioral decision tasks or by surveys eliciting stated risk preference (SRP). We applied network analysis to data from a representative Swedish sample to investigate the relations between RRP, SRP, personality characteristics, and cognitive abilities, using in total over 70 measurements. The results showed that different measures of RRP were poorly intercorrelated and formed a community together with measures of numerical and cognitive abilities. Measures of SRP were weakly correlated with measures of RRP and identified in a distinctly separate community, along with personality characteristics and gender. The ensuing analyses provided support for a model suggesting that RRPs are contaminated by demands on numerical and cognitive abilities. RRPs may thus suffer from poor construct validity, whereas SRPs may better capture people's everyday risk preferences because they are related to more stable traits.
... In their paper on lottery gambling, Cook et al. (1998) highlight that certain personality constructs such as sensation seeking (Balodis et al. 2014;Buelow and Suhr 2013;Cyders and Smith 2008), risk-taking (Carver and McCarty 2013), affect (Sundqvist and Wennberg 2015), and impulsivity (Demaree et al. 2008;MacLaren et al. 2012) have tended to constitute the primary foci of much gambling research. Consequently, other personality constructs potentially affecting state-sponsored lottery gambling, such as luck beliefs, have received relatively little attention. ...
This study offers both the first systematic investigation of the relationship between the five-factor personality model and general (ostensibly non-problem) lottery gambling, and the first application of Thompson and Prendergast’s (2013) bidimensional model of luck beliefs to gambling behavior. Cross-sectional analyses (N = 844) indicate the bidimensional model of luck beliefs significantly accounts for variance in lottery gambling that is discrete from and greater than that of the five-factor personality model. Moreover, the broad pattern of relationships we find between presumably harmless state-sponsored lottery gambling and both personality and luck beliefs tend to parallel those found in studies of problem gambling, suggesting implications for quality of life and public policy in relation to lottery gambling.
... In previous studies, people with high BIS have been shown to react more strongly to negative facial cues and perceive them as more negative (e.g., Knyazev et al., 2008). Moreover, BIS has been linked to higher risk aversion in economic decision-making scenarios (Demaree, DeDonno, Burns, & Everhart, 2008). It is thus possible that high-BIS individuals are more motivated to reject unfair offers accompanied by angry expressions when the economic gains are low, as they perceive the combination of unfair offer and angry expression more negatively than low-BIS individuals. ...
Emotional expressions as manifested in facial movements, voice, and touch are a crucial part of face-to-face interaction. The majority of existing neuroscientific research on emotional expressions concerns the perception of unimodal emotional cues, such as facial emotional expressions. In natural face-to-face interaction, however, emotions are often expressed as compounds of facial, tactile, prosodic, and postural cues. How the brain processes such multimodal emotional information remains poorly understood. The aim of the current dissertation is to investigate how emotional expressions conveyed consecutively via face and touch are integrated in perceptual processing and decision-making. Four studies were conducted to measure event-related brain potentials (ERPs) and autonomic nervous system responses to simulated touches and facial emotional expression stimuli. The first two studies used virtual reality to investigate how a virtual agent’s facial emotional expressions influenced the way the agent’s subsequent touch was perceived (Study I) and whether the receiver’s individual characteristics influenced this visuo-tactile affective modulation (Study II). Touch perception was measured using self-reports, somatosensory-evoked potentials (SEPs), and cardiac orienting responses (ORs), and the individual characteristics were indexed by behavioural inhibition system sensitivity (BIS) and gender. Study III investigated whether receiving a touch influenced the processing of a subsequent emotional face picture presented on the computer screen. Here, face-evoked ERPs, ORs, and facial electromyography were measured. Finally, Study IV examined whether a virtual agent’s touch and emotional facial expressions influence receivers’ decision-making and offer-related ORs in an economic decision-making game. Additionally, the study examined whether the receivers’ behavioural inhibition/approach system (BAS/BIS) sensitivities and sensitivity to unfair treatment moderated the persuasiveness of nonverbal cues. Study I revealed that happy, angry, and sad facial expressions resulted in amplified SEPs around 20–50 ms after touch onset, whereas in later latencies (250– 650 ms), the angry facial expression amplified and the happy expression decreased the SEP amplitudes. In Study II, men with high BIS were found to perceive touch from male agents as especially intense if accompanied by happy, angry, of fearful facial expressions, and they showed pronounced cardiac OR to all the touches. Study III demonstrated that receiving a computer-generated touch did not modulate emotional face processing in any of the measured indices. Finally, in Study IV, people were found to accept unfair offers more often if the agent smiled or touched them before making the offer. The touch had a stronger persuasive influence in people with low sensitivity to unfairness and low approach tendency, whereas the effect of facial expressions was moderated by BIS. Altogether, the findings of the dissertation reveal that a sender’s facial emotional expressions modulate subsequent touch perception at a very early stage and that the modulation is based on different emotional information in different temporal stages. In addition, the findings suggest that motivational tendencies and gender influence the manner in which people perceive a sender’s multimodal emotional expressions and make decisions thereafter. These findings are valuable for basic research, but their implications extend also to the development of novel clinical interventions and social virtual reality applications.
... 6 7 54 Other risk factors for gambling include impulsivity, maladaptive coping strategies, high sensation-seeking, risk-taking and social anxiety. [55][56][57][58] To better understand the motivations for gambling among college students, Neighbors et al 59 asked college student gamblers (N=184) to articulate the reasons underlying their gambling behaviours. The primary motivations included winning money (42.7%), enjoyment/fun (23%), social reasons (11.2%), excitement (7.3%), winning (3.9%) and competition (3.4%). ...
Opportunities to participate in gambling have dramatically changed during the past 20 years. Casinos have proliferated as have electronic gambling machines, lotteries, sports betting, and most recently online gambling. Gambling among the general population has moved from being perceived negatively to a socially acceptable pastime. As over 80% of individuals have reported gambling for money during their lifetime, governments recognise that regulating gambling—a multibillion dollar industry—is a significant source of revenue. While the vast majority of individuals engaged in some form of gambling have no or few gambling-related problems, an identifiable proportion of both adolescents and adults experience significant gambling-related problems. Elite athletes have not been immune to the lure of gambling nor its concomitant problems. Prevalence studies suggest higher rates of gambling problems among athletes than the general population. In this narrative review, we examine several risk factors associated with gambling problems among elite athletes and new forms of gambling that may be problematic for this population. Given the potential serious mental health and performance consequences associated with a gambling disorder for athletes, we aim to increase coaches’, athletic directors’ and health professionals’ knowledge concerning the importance of screening and treatment referrals.
... On the other hand, novelty seeking is an important aspect of normal explorative behavior with positive outcomes, such as seeking out new friendships (Telzer, 2016), and contributes to behavioral flexibility and greater learning (Crone & Dahl, 2012). An important factor that drives novelty seeking and explorative behavior in adolescence is reward sensitivity (Abler, Walter, Erk, Kammerer, & Spitzer, 2006;Demaree, DeDonno, Burns, & Erik Everhart, 2008;Hawes et al., 2017;Telzer, 2016;Van Duijvenvoorde, Peters, Braams, & Crone, 2016). Increases in reward sensitivity in adolescence have been explained in terms of asynchronous development of subcortical brain regions, including the ventral striatum and amygdala, relative to cortical brain regions (Casey, Galv an, & Somerville, 2016;Ernst & Fudge, 2009). ...
It was examined how ventral striatum responses to rewards develop across adolescence and early adulthood and how individual differences in state- and trait-level reward sensitivity are related to these changes. Participants (aged 8-29 years) were tested across three waves separated by 2 years (693 functional MRI scans) in an accelerated longitudinal design. The results confirmed an adolescent peak in reward-related ventral striatum, specifically nucleus accumbens, activity. In early to mid-adolescence, increases in reward activation were related to trait-level reward drive. In mid-adolescence to early adulthood decreases in reward activation were related to decreases in state-level hedonic reward pleasure. This study demonstrates that state- and trait-level reward sensitivity account for reward-related ventral striatum activity in different phases of adolescence and early adulthood.
... Varescon (2013a, 2013b) Their second study focused on impulsivity and sensation seeking. Both have been identified as problematic gambling risk factors (Demaree, DeDonno, Burns, & Erik Everhart, 2008;Petry, 2001). Authors assessed the specific connection between online poker and impulsivity . ...
Etude 1 : La revue de littérature a identifié 16 articles. Plusieurs facteurs prédicteurs du jeu excessif ont été identifiés (le stress, les attributions internes, la dissociation, l’ennui, les émotions négatives, les croyances irrationnelles, l’anxiété et l’impulsivité). Enfin, la validité des outils utilisés pour mesurer le jeu excessif et les croyances irrationnelles dans cette population est remise en question. Etude 2 : Le Tilt serait lié à une perte de contrôle et des émotions négatives (colère, frustration), associées à des expériences dissociatives transitoires. Causé par des évènements tant internes qu’externes, le Tilt affecterait les processus comportementaux, émotionnels et cognitifs.Etude 3 : L’échelle OPTS mesure la fréquence des épisodes de Tilt au poker en ligne. Les items ont été créés à partir de la littérature et de 10 entretiens semi-directifs de joueurs de poker en ligne. L’échelle est composée de 2 facteurs appelés « Tilt émotionnel et comportemental » et « Tilt cognitif ». Etude 4 : Nos résultats indiquent que la fréquence des épisodes de Tilt est un prédicteur significatif de l’utilisation excessive du poker en ligne. La fréquence des épisodes de Tilt est quant à elle prédite par les croyances irrationnelles de type « incapacité à s’abstenir de jouer » et « interprétations favorables à la poursuite du jeu ». Le Tilt et les croyances irrationnelles sont donc fortement associés au jeu excessif au poker en ligne.
... Yet, no study examining EI on risky financial behavior directly exists. Demaree et al. (2008) have emphasized that emotional reactions could have an influence on risk-taking behavior. Moreover, Olson (2006) has stated that emotions mainly ignored by the classical finance paradigm could have an impact on financial behavior. ...
Purpose
This study aims to examine the roles of individual factors on risky investment intention as an indicator of risky financial behavior.
Design/methodology/approach
The data were collected from a survey instrument and composed of 496 individuals’ responses. The authors exploited structural equation modelling and multigroup structural equation modelling for direct and indirect effects, respectively.
Findings
Results indicate that emotional intelligence and locus of control have a positive impact on financial risk-taking, while risk aversion in general has the negative one. Although financial literacy does not have a direct effect on risky financial behavior, it has important role as a moderator variable, interacting with external locus of control.
Originality/value
The authors expect this study to contribute into behavioral finance literature in two ways. First, they investigate joint and relative effects of four major factors (i.e. emotional intelligence, locus of control, risk aversion in general and financial literacy) identified in the literature on financial risk-taking of individual investors. Each belongs to a different venue in an individual’s psyche and therefore is expected to influence financial risk-taking through different mechanisms. However, the research arguing their roles on the financial risky behavior directly is very limited. Investigating their individual effects is likely to provide unique insights into our understanding of risky financial behavior. Second, the authors also posit and manifest that the effects of the first three of the aforementioned factors on risk-taking intentions are moderated by financial literacy. This finding is likely to provide rather valuable insights pertaining to the emergence of risk-taking behaviors and may shed light on the root reasons behind equivocal findings in previous research regarding the effect of each factor.
... To examine the relationship between gambling behavior and personality, such as impulsivity and sensation-seeking, some researchers categorized people into different gambling groups based on their gambling preference, such as regular lottery players, heavy casino gamblers, and online gamblers (Carver and McCarty 2013), or poker players and horse race bettors (Morris and Griffiths 2013). Within such subgroupings, results revealed that impulsivity and sensation-seeking are positively related to gambling behavior (Demaree et al. 2008;McDaniel and Zuckerman 2003). In contrast, others noted that gambling cannot be predicted with sensation-seeking in horse race and electronic gaming machine gamblers (Balodis, Thomas, and Moore 2014) or in fruit machine gamblers (Coventry and Constable 1999). ...
Previous studies have presented evidence revealing that the dispositional personalities of consumers, or the traits associated with their gambling behaviors and risk preferences, differ across various gambling types. Those studies leave open the question of whether and how personality differences affect domain-specific gambling preferences. Using latent class analysis (LCA), we explored the latent classes of risk preference for different gambling types and the effects of personality traits on these classes. A total of 732 Macau residents completed a questionnaire assessing 13 gambling types and personality traits. Preferences for gambling shown by the participants varied between three latent classes of games: chance gambling, entertainment gambling, and technical gambling. Moreover, not all personality traits consistently predicted preferences for these gambling classes. For instance, aggression-hostility positively predicted a general preference for both chance gambling and technical gambling, but impulsive sensation-seeking positively predicted only a preference for chance gambling. However, neuroticism-anxiety traits showed no such predictive effect for any of the three gambling classes. This study suggests that personality patterns emerge for overall and specific gambling types and underscores the value of LCA to help resolve the longstanding debate over whether gambling is domain specific.
... In addition, one's sensitivity to punishment is also believed to impact gambling behaviour; as being sensitive to punishment is believed to be a protective factor as it inhibits further risktaking in response to punishment (Gaher et al, 2015). Conceptually, one would therefore predict that a gambling activity with a higher event frequency would inhibit gambling persistence in gamblers with a higher sensitivity to punishment (Demaree, et al, 2008;Simons & Arens, 2007), given that the higher the event frequency the more frequent the punishment is likely to be (i.e. monetary loss). ...
The aim of this report is to review evidence and theory regarding the gambling
product through its structural characteristics (i.e., the ‘agent’ component of the
epidemiological triangle). By providing a better understanding of structural
characteristics, stakeholders should be better equipped to promote and evaluate
responsible gambling and harm-minimisation strategies. Structural characteristics are essentially the building blocks of a gambling game. They are the basis for their differential appeal depending on how they satisfy
different needs for different consumers. They combine with environmental and individual factors to determine both positive and negative outcomes of gambling participation. Structural characteristics vary considerably from game to game and evolve quickly in response to changes in technology; this renders associated policymaking challenging. The report is structured to consider categories of structural characteristics. Within
each section we consider the theory and evidence concerning the possible links between characteristics and gambling problems, together with potential implications for specific interventions that may merit consideration by regulators and commercial gambling providers.
... Their second study focused on impulsivity and sensation seeking. Both have been identified as problematic gambling risk factors (Demaree, DeDonno, Burns, & Everhart, 2008;Petry, 2001). The authors assessed the specific connection between online poker and impulsivity (Barrault & Varescon, 2013b). ...
Background and aims
Online Texas Hold’em poker has become a spectacular form of entertainment in our society, and the number of people who use this form of gambling is increasing. It seems that online poker activity challenges existing theoretical concepts about problem gambling behaviors. The purpose of this literature review is to provide a current overview about the population of online poker players.
Methods
To be selected, articles had to focus on psychopathology in a sample of online poker players, be written in English or French, and be published before November 2015. A total of 17 relevant studies were identified.
Results
In this population, the proportion of problematic gamblers was higher than in other forms of gambling. Several factors predicting excessive gambling were identified such as stress, internal attribution, dissociation, boredom, negative emotions, irrational beliefs, anxiety, and impulsivity. The population of online poker players is largely heterogeneous, with experimental players forming a specific group. Finally, the validity of the tools used to measure excessive or problematic gambling and irrational beliefs are not suitable for assessing online poker activity.
Discussion and conclusions
Future studies need to confirm previous findings in the literature of online poker games. Given that skills are important in poker playing, skill development in the frames of excessive use of online poker should be explored more in depth, particularly regarding poker experience and loss chasing. Future research should focus on skills, self-regulation, and psychopathology of online poker players.
... Subcortical inputs from periaqueductal gray and septohippocampal systems have also been posited to influence reinforcement sensitivity via individual differences in a behavioral activation system (BAS) and behavioral inhibition system (BIS), leading to greater sensitivity to certain types of stimuli and general response tendencies, shown through surface level trait impulsivity and anxiety [34]. These effects may be evident in the BIS/BAS constructs and their relationship to personality variables such as impulsivity, reward responsiveness, and sensation seeking and individual differences in risk taking behavior during gambling tasks [44] and feedback negativity [45]. The frontal asymmetry model shows some overlap with the BIS and BAS model, but there is a significant disparity in that measures of BAS and increased trait left frontal activity show consistent agreement, while any links between BIS and increased right frontal activity are less clear [38,[46][47][48][49]. ...
ERP studies commonly utilize gambling-based reinforcement tasks to elicit feedback negativity (FN) responses. This study used a pattern learning task in order to limit gambling-related fallacious reasoning and possible affective responses to gambling, while investigating relationships between the FN components between high and low reward expectation conditions. Eighteen undergraduates completed measures of reinforcement sensitivity, trait and state affect, and psychophysiological recording. The pattern learning task elicited a FN component for both high and low win expectancy conditions, which was found to be independent of reward expectation and showed little relationship with task and personality variables. We also observed a P3 component, which showed sensitivity to outcome expectancy variation and relationships to measures of anxiety, appetitive motivation, and cortical asymmetry, although these varied by electrode location and expectancy condition. Findings suggest that the FN reflected a binary reward-related signal, with little relationship to reward expectation found in previous studies, in the absence of positive affective responses.
... We believe that this aspect of expectancy theory has potential value for guiding future research, especially in light of recent emphasis on the multi-motive nature of group settings (e.g., De Dreu et al., 2008;Levine & Smith, 2013). For example, individuals differ in their preferences for maximal certainty in outcomes compared with maximal potential reward (Demaree, DeDonno, Burns, & Everhart, 2008). Such differences are likely to impact the relative influence of expectancy and instrumentality on force and therefore on choice. ...
Working in a group requires coordination. The current paper examines coordination in terms of member-level behavioral choices. Extending expectancy theory to a collaborative group setting, we interpret past findings on expertise and hypothesize that component features (specifically their difficulty and worth relative to each other) impact member behavior and hence coordination both directly and by moderating the role of expertise. Findings were largely as predicted, suggesting that an expectancy theory perspective may be a useful tool for the study and understanding of coordination. An exploratory examination of recordings of group interaction suggested that although most of our groups discussed coordination strategies, the strategies discussed did not generally map to the behavioral choices observed. Implications for coordination in general and transactive memory specifically are discussed. Copyright
... Impulsivity is linked to another personality construct, sensation seeking, defined as the need for varied, new and complex sensations and experiences to maintain a high level of excitement (Zuckerman, Bone, Neary, Mangelsdorff, & Brustman, 1972). It has a predictive value for pathological gambling (Demaree, DeDonno, Burns, & Everhart, 2008), as well as for the severity of this disorder (Bonnaire, Bungener, & Varescon, 2006). In 1993, assuming that impulsivity and sensation seeking are linked and predict risky behaviors, Zuckerman, Kuhlman, Joireman, Teta, and Kraft (1993) proposed the concept of impulsive sensation seeking. ...
Background and aims: Online gambling appears to have special features, such as anonymity, speed of play and permanent availability, which may contribute to the facilitation and increase in gambling practice, potentially leading to problem gambling. The aims of this study were to assess sociodemographic characteristics, gambling practice and impulsive sensation seeking among a population of regular poker players with different levels of gambling intensity and to compare online and live players. Methods: 245 regular poker players (180 online players and 65 live players) completed online self-report scales assessing sociodemographic data, pathological gambling (SOGS), gambling practice (poker questionnaire) and impulsive sensation seeking (ImpSS). We used SOGS scores to rank players according to the intensity of their gambling practice (non-pathological gamblers, problem gamblers and pathological gamblers). Results: All poker players displayed a particular sociodemographic profile: they were more likely to be young men, executives or students, mostly single and working full-time. Online players played significantly more often whereas live players reported significantly longer gambling sessions. Sensation seeking was high across all groups, whereas impulsivity significantly distinguished players according to the intensity of gambling. Discussion: Our results show the specific profile of poker players. Both impulsivity and sensation seeking seem to be involved in pathological gambling, but playing different roles. Sensation seeking may determine interest in poker whereas impulsivity may be involved in pathological gambling development and maintenance. Conclusions: This study opens up new research perspectives and insights into preventive and treatment actions for pathological poker players.
... The role of BIS/BAS has been studied to understand individual differences in a wide array of explicit behaviors, from risk taking on a gambling task (Demaree, DeDonno, Burns, & Everhardt, 2008) to college students' substance use patterns (Franken & Muris, 2006). However, the influence of BIS/BAS on implicit action tendencies is relatively understudied. ...
Previous research has used the Approach Avoidance Task (AAT) to measure individuals' implicit approach or withdraw tendencies to a variety of stimuli, including dessert foods, alcohol, and stimuli associated with specific phobias. Individuals exhibit relatively faster approach movements to appetitive stimuli (e.g., food) and relatively faster avoidance movements to fearful stimuli (e.g., spiders). We explored the validity of an adapted version of the AAT, the Dessert-AAT (D-AAT), by investigating how Behavioral Inhibition and Activation strength (BIS/BAS) predicted responses on the D-AAT. Faster approach movements to desserts tended to be related to BAS but not BIS. We found that the BAS Fun-Seeking subscale significantly drives the relationship between BAS and relative approach motivation for dessert images, providing preliminary evidence for the validity of the D-AAT. Results are discussed in terms of the revised Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory, and ideas for future research are offered.
... Gambling could have this function for high sensation seekers (Bonnaire, Bungener, & Varescon, 2009). Studies have shown that sensation seeking has a predictive value for pathological gambling (Demaree, DeDonno, Burns, & Everhart, 2008), as well as for the severity of this disorder (Bonnaire, Bungener, & Varescon, 2006). The concept of impulsive sensation seeking combines these two dimensions which predict risky behavior (Zuckerman et al., 1993). ...
The aims of this study are to assess impulsive sensation seeking among online poker players and to study the links between impulsive sensation seeking and gambling practice. One hundred and eighty (180) regular online poker players (i.e. playing at least once a week for a minimum duration of one year) completed three self-report scales on line assessing pathological gambling (SOGS), poker practice (poker questionnaire) and impulsive sensation seeking (ImpSS scale). Based on the SOGS scores, participants were divided into three groups: non-pathological gamblers (n = 112), problem gamblers (n = 37) and pathological gamblers (n = 31). The impulsive sensation seeking scores of all the poker players are high. They all display high levels of sensation seeking, regardless of their intensity of gambling. However, pathological gamblers are more impulsive than problem and non-pathological gamblers. Impulsivity is a good predictor for pathological gambling. Online poker players are high sensation seekers who gamble to experience strong feelings and arousal, whereas impulsivity plays an important role in developing and maintaining pathological gambling. This study underlines the psychological specificities of online poker players and the need to take into account impulsive sensation seeking not only in the research on pathological gambling poker players but also in the development of preventive action. (c) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
... Indeed, people with different personalities consistently prefer different types of wagers. For example, Demaree, DeDonno, Burns, and Everhart (2008) found that individuals with higher levels of Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS) strength (right panel, b). When evaluating the influence of repeated winning on subsequent wagers (Panel a), we imagine a normal distribution of Trial 1 data with some individuals preferring lower-and higher-probability wagers (represented by thinner and thicker vertical lines, respectively). ...
... This led to the discovery of a link between frontal asymmetry and risk taking (Knoch et al., 2006; Gianotti et al., 2009; Studer et al., 2013). Risky situations, which are indistinct in terms of their overall value but have higher variance and greater polarity of outcomes, seem to provide a behavioral testing ground for approach and avoidance tendencies (Goudriaan et al., 2006; Suhr and Tsanadis, 2007; Demaree et al., 2008). Still, the boundaries of the relation between frontal hemispheric asymmetry and risk taking have hardly been examined. ...
Frontal asymmetry measured at rest using EEG is considered a stable marker of approach-avoidance behaviors and risk taking. We examined whether without salient cues of attention in the form of losses, predictability is reduced. Fifty-seven participants performed an experiential decision task in a gain-only, loss-only, and mixed (gains and losses) condition. Increased risk taking on the part of individuals with relatively high left frontal activation, as denoted by the Alpha band, was only observed in the task involving both gains and losses. Event-related potential analysis sheds light on the processes leading to this pattern. Left-frontal dominant individuals had increased fronto-central P300 activation following risky compared to safe outcomes, while right-frontal dominant individuals did not show a P300 difference following safe and risky outcomes. This interaction also only emerged when losses were contrasted with gains. The findings highlight the sensitivity of behavioral predictability to cues of valence.
... Problem gamblers also score higher on the BIS and BAS scales, with higher BIS/ BAS scores associated with worse performance on the Iowa Gambling Task (Goudriaan et al, 2006). In non-problematic adult gamblers, BIS scores were more closely related to risky betting than were BAS scores (Demaree et al, 2008). PG individuals also scored higher than healthy comparison (HC) subjects on the BAS-FS and BAS-D scales, with BAS-FS scores inversely correlated with the white matter integrity in the left and right genu of the corpus callosum (Yip et al, 2013). ...
The behavioral inhibition system (BIS) and behavioral activation system (BAS) are hypothesized to underlie motivated behavior, relate to hippocampal and amygdalar function and link to pathological gambling (PG). Prior studies have not investigated hippocampal and amygdalar volumes in PG and their relationships to BIS/BAS measures. Structural MRI scans and BIS/BAS and other clinical measures were obtained from 32 PG individuals and 47 healthy comparison individuals. Volumetric measures of the hippocampus and amygdala were assessed using FreeSurfer and related to BIS/BAS measures. PG relative to healthy comparison (HC) individuals demonstrated diminished volume in the left hippocampus and right amygdala and higher BIS and BAS scores. BIS scores were positively correlated with left hippocampal and left amygdalar volumes in PG individuals. The findings of relatively diminished hippocampal and amygdalar volumes in PG individuals resonate with findings from substance-dependent groups. Relationships between amygdalar and hippocampal volumes and BIS measures in PG suggest that individual differences in these structures may contribute to avoidance behaviors in PG.Neuropsychopharmacology accepted article preview online, 27 September 2013. doi:10.1038/npp.2013.260.
... A study using the Sensitivity to Punishment and Sensitivity to Reward Questionnaire (Torrubia, Avila, Molto, & Caseras, 2001) found that poor performance on the IGT was associated with greater sensitivity to punishment, and greater sensitivity to reward (Davis, Patte, Tweed, & Curtis, 2007). BIS/BAS have also been studied using a cognitive affective slot machine, showing that the BIS-score and the BIS/BAS ratio-score were negatively related to bet-sizes (Demaree, DeDonno, Burns, & Everhart, 2008). Because studies concerning the relationship between BIS/BAS and risktaking in gambling have shown inconsistent results, more research is warranted. ...
This study investigated the relationship between evaluative conditioning (EC), reinforcement sensitivity, and risk-taking on a simulated slot machine in a lab setting. Participants (51 female, 49 male, mean age 21.01years [SD=2.49] healthy adults) completed an EC paradigm with both negative unconditioned stimuli (negative EC) and positive unconditioned stimuli (positive EC). A negative EC by positive EC interaction effect indicated that those who did not show negative EC or positive EC gambled with lower average bet-size compared to the other participants. Scores on the fight-flight-freeze system (FFFS) and scores on the behavioral approach subscale Reward responsiveness (BAS-RR) were positively associated with average bet-size. An FFFS by BAS-RR interaction effect showed that participants who scored low on both BAS-RR and FFFS had lower bet-sizes compared to the other participants. These findings suggest that conditionability and reinforcement sensitivity play a role in gambling behavior.
... This is also consistent with risk-taking research which has shown that the probability of winning or losing, and the amount that one stands to win or lose are both important in determining preferences of taking risks (cf. Demaree, DeDonno, Burns, & Everhart, 2008). Although explicitly focusing upon financial risktaking, with minor adaptations, the work of Demaree et al. (2008) could offer a methodological blueprint for those researchers wishing to explore the relationship between mental toughness and risk-taking behavior (as opposed to attitudes). ...
This paper tested the relationship between mental toughness and attitudes towards risk-taking in undergraduate student athletes attending two Universities in the North of England. A sample of 69 men (M age=22.2years, s=5.28) and 36 women (M age=24.6years, s=7.67) participated and ranged from club to national level in a variety of sports. Participants gave informed consent before completing questionnaires to assess mental toughness and attitudes towards risk. Pearson Product Moment Correlations found significant and positive correlations between overall mental toughness and attitudes towards physical risks, but no relationship with psychological risk. Regression analysis found the mental toughness subscale of challenge to be the most significant predictor of attitudes towards physical risk. Interpersonal confidence was the only mental toughness subscale found to be significantly and positively related to attitudes towards psychological risk. Independent t-tests found men reported significantly higher overall mental toughness, confidence in abilities, and attitudes towards both physical and psychological risk, than women. These results are discussed with regard to previous research findings and future researchers are encouraged to consider employing experimental methodologies in order to manipulate contextual factors to more fully understand any individual differences.
... Meda et al. (2009) found no significant group differences on Behavioral Activation, but in our sample low risk and symptomatic gamblers scored significantly lower on Behavioral Activation than non-gamblers. Research with healthy controls has been able to show conclusively that those scoring higher on behavioral approach took larger risks in an experimental manipulation (Demaree et al. 2008). However, the limited findings on gamblers have shown, as in our sample, the inverse conclusion with gamblers scoring lower in behavioral activation than non-gamblers, and low behavioral activation scores corresponding to increased spending when gambling (O'Connor et al. 2009 ). ...
Impulsivity has been implicated as a contributing factor in the development of gambling problems among college students, but attempts to confirm this relation have been inconsistent. One explanation for these incongruent findings is that impulsivity may be multidimensional and that distinct dimensions differentially predict separate behaviors. Using a large, diverse sample of college students, a factor analysis of self-report measures related to impulsivity revealed a three-factor structure of Behavioral Activation, Preference for Stimulation, and Inhibition Control that was similar to the structure found by Meda et al. (Behav Pharmacol 20(5-6):390-399, 2009) in a different adult sample. Low risk gamblers and symptomatic gamblers scored significantly lower on Behavioral Activation and Inhibition Control than non-gamblers. Conversely, low risk gamblers and symptomatic gamblers scored significantly higher on Preference for Stimulation. Prevalence of gambling and gambling activity preference for this sample was also assessed.
Introduction: Swearing fulfils positive functions including benefitting pain relief and physical strength. Here we present two experiments assessing a possible psychological mechanism, increased state disinhibition, for the effect of swearing on physical strength. Method: Two repeated measures experiments were carried out with sample sizes N=56, and N=118. Both included measures of physical performance assessing, respectively, grip and arm strength, and both included the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART) to measure risky behaviour. Experiment 2, which was pre-registered, additionally assessed flow, emotion including humour, distraction including novelty, self-confidence and anxiety. Results: Experiments 1 and 2 found that repeating a swear word benefitted physical strength and increased risky behaviour, but risky behaviour did not mediate the strength effect. Experiment 2 found that repeating a swear word increased flow, positive emotion, humour and distraction and self-confidence. Humour mediated the effect of swearing on physical strength. Discussion: Consistent effects of swearing on physical strength indicate that this is a reliable effect. Swearing influenced several constructs related to state disinhibition including increased self-confidence. Humour appeared to mediate the effect of swearing on physical strength, consistent with a hot cognitions explanation of swearing-induced state disinhibition. However, as this mediation effect was part of an exploratory analysis, further pre-registered experimental research including validated measures of humour is required.
Cilj istraživanja bio je provjeriti dosadašnje empirijske nalaze o odnosu mračne trijade ličnosti, aktivnosti bihevioralnog aktivacijskog i inhibicijskog sustava, te preuzimanja financijskog rizika. Proveden je online eksperiment u kojem je sudjelovalo 114 ispitanika iz opće populacije. Prema rezultatima istraživanja, dimenzije mračne trijade ličnosti i aktivnost bihevioralno aktivacijskog i bihevioralnog inhibicijskog sustava nisu povezani s preuzimanjem financijskog rizika na bihevioralnom zadatku. Zabilježeni rezultati razmatrani su u kontekstu dosadašnjih spoznaja o odnosu ispitivanih konstrukata te su istaknute implikacije provedenog istraživanja.
Managing risk is an integral part of life. Whereas risk-taking is sometimes construed as only “bad” (e.g., drug use) or “good” (e.g., investing), the present research focuses on “optimal risk-taking.” In economic settings, optimal risk on an exceedingly large number of repeated wagers can be computed using Kelly’s Formula (Kelly, 1956). We tested whether individual differences in cognitive abilities (fluid intelligence and working memory) and emotion-related traits (behavioral inhibition and behavioral activation system sensitivity) predict learning to take optimal risks in an investment paradigm. Participants first completed a Learning Phase in which they received explicit feedback on what the optimal wager was for each of a series of gambling opportunities. Next, they completed a Test Phase where they were asked to transfer the information from the Learning Phase to predict the optimal wager on a new set of gambling opportunities (not taught during the Learning Phase). Last, with this second set of gambling opportunities, they were asked to manage a bankroll and place wagers in a Gambling Phase. During the Learning Phase, we found that participants with greater cognitive resources (fluid intelligence and working memory) and behavioral activation system (BAS) strength learned faster. During the Test Phase, participants generally struggled to transfer this learning to novel (unlearned) opportunities and often assumed too little risk. Those with higher working memory capacities showed the best transfer of learning. During the Gambling Phase, we found that those high in BAS were less prone to the error of assuming too little risk when managing a bankroll. Thus, cognitive resources and BAS appear to be important predictors for who is best able to both learn and utilize optimal risk taking.
Research has shown that academic risk taking-the selection of school tasks with varying difficulty levels-affords important implications for educational outcomes. In two experiments, we explored the role of cognitive processes-specifically, global versus local processing styles-in students' academic risk-taking tendencies. Participants first read a short passage, which provided the context for their subsequent academic risk-taking decisions. Following which, participants undertook the Navon's task and attended to either global letters or local letters only, i.e., were either globally or locally primed. The effects of priming on academic risk taking were then assessed using a perception-based measure (Experiment 1) and a task-based measure (Experiment 2). Experiment 1 provided preliminary evidence, which Experiment 2 confirmed, that globally focused individuals took more academic risk than did locally focused individuals after controlling for participants' need for cognition (how much they enjoy effortful cognitive activities). Additionally, the inclusion of and comparisons with a control group in Experiment 2 revealed that locally focused participants drove the observed effects. The theory of predictive and reactive control systems (PARCS) provides a cogent account of our findings. Future directions and practical applications in education are discussed.
This chapter provides background on deception as a psychological phenomenon.
Ziel der vorliegenden Forschungsarbeit war es, den Einfluss des dispositionellen Bedürfnisses nach kognitiver Geschlossenheit (NCC) auf Entscheidungen unter Unsicherheit zu untersuchen. Es wurde vorhergesagt, dass NCC Entscheidungsphänomene moderiert, die sich durch unterschiedliche Ausmaße an Unsicherheit kennzeichnen. Um diese Annahme zu testen, wurden im Rahmen dreier Studien klassische Entscheidungsprobleme vorgegeben, die eine Wahl zwischen Entscheidungsalternativen mit unterschiedlichen Ausmaßen an Unsicherheit, aber gleichem Erwartungswert erforderten. Studien 1 bis 3 untersuchten den Einfluss des NCC auf den fundamentalen Ambiguitätsaversionseffekt im Ellsberg-Paradigma (Ellsberg, 1961). Hierzu wurde eine Adaption des klassischen Zwei-Farben-Urnenproblems vorgegeben, in dem eine Wahl zwischen einer Urne mit bekanntem Risiko und einer ambiguen Urne getroffen werden musste. Hypothesenkonform erwies sich NCC als signifikanter Prädiktor der Urnenwahl. Einzelanalysen zeigten, dass der Ambiguitätsaversionseffekt, der als Präferenz der bekannten (versus der ambiguen) Urne definiert ist, nur in der Gruppe mit hohem NCC auftrat. In der Gruppe mit niedrigem NCC zeigte sich keine systematische Präferenz. Dieser Effekt konnte in allen drei Studien nachgewiesen werden und erwies sich somit als besonders robust und reliabel. Zudem wurde in der dritten Studie der Einfluss des NCC auf Risikoframingeffekte im Asian-Disease-Paradigma untersucht. Hierbei mussten sich die Teilnehmer und Teilnehmerinnen zwischen einer sicheren und einer riskanten Option entscheiden, die in zwei kontextuellen Bedingungen dargeboten wurden: einem Gewinnframe und einem Verlustframe. Die Ergebnisse dieser Studie zeigten, dass sich Individuen mit einem hohen und einem niedrigen NCC in ihren Präferenzen in Abhängigkeit vom jeweiligen Problemframe unterschieden. In der Gruppe mit einem hohen NCC zeigte sich unter Gewinnframing eine starke Präferenz der sicheren Alternative (Risikovermeidung), wohingegen unter Verlustframing keine Option bevorzugt wurde. Individuen mit einem niedrigen NCC wiesen hingegen unter Gewinnframing keine systematische Präferenz auf, wohingegen sie unter Verlustframing stark die riskante Option bevorzugten. Zudem zeigte eine Betrachtung des Verhaltens über die untersuchten Entscheidungsprobleme hinweg, dass Individuen mit einer starken Ausprägung auf dieser Variablen dazu neigten, sich über die untersuchten Entscheidungssituationen hinweg konsistent zu verhalten. Insgesamt unterstützen die Ergebnisse die Annahme, dass NCC eine Persönlichkeitsvariable darstellt, die Entscheidungsverhalten unter Unsicherheit bedeutsam beeinflusst. Implikationen und Konsequenzen dieser Ergebnisse werden diskutiert.
Previous chapters have addressed a variety of ways in which style can be expressed and evoked—in production, perception, and interaction. The present chapter explores the future of style in interactive applications of artificial intelligence (AI). To do so we dissect style along various dimensions, including functions, levels, domains, and uses, in a survey of current applications and a roadmap for future innovations. We conclude that major advances will require a shift in focus from the function of production to the function of perception—and from the level of semantics to the level of aesthetics.
This study tests a model to investigate the extent to which drivers of compulsive and impulsive buying behaviors overlap. The model includes personal and cultural antecedents for traits of consumer impulsiveness and compulsiveness and impulsive and compulsive buying behaviors as outcomes. Survey results from 336 Israeli and 595 U.S. consumers indicate that the personality antecedents envy, low self-esteem, and fantasizing generally drive consumer traits of impulsiveness and compulsiveness, though some differences exist between consumers in the U.S. and Israel. However, cultural orientations were found to be insignificant in driving traits of impulsiveness or compulsiveness.
How do humans judge the creativeness of an artwork or other artifact? This article suggests that such judgments are based on the pleasures of an aesthetic experience, which can be modeled as a mathematical product of psychological arousal and appraisal. The arousal stems from surprise, and is computed as a marginal entropy using information theory. The appraisal assigns meaning, by which the surprise is resolved, and is computed as a posterior probability using Bayesian theory. This model is tested by obtaining human ratings of surprise, meaning, and creativeness for artifacts in a domain of advertising design. The empirical results show that humans do judge creativeness as a product of surprise and meaning, consistent with the computational model of arousal and appraisal. Implications of the model are discussed with respect to advancing artificial intelligence in the arts as well as improving the computational evaluation of creativity in engineering and design.
The majority of individuals gamble during their lifetime; however only a subset of these individuals develops problematic gambling. Gray's Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory may be relevant to understanding gambling problems. Differences in sensitivity to punishments and rewards can influence an individual's behavior and may be pertinent to the development of gambling problems. This study examined the functional associations between sensitivity to punishment (SP), sensitivity to reward (SR), and gambling problems in a sample of 2254 college students. Zero-inflated negative binomial regression was used to predict gambling problems as well as the absence of gambling problems. Gambling problems were hypothesized to be positively associated with SR and inversely associated with SP. In addition, SP was hypothesized to moderate the association between SR and gambling problems, attenuating the strength of the association. As hypothesized, SR was positively associated with gambling problems. However, SP did not moderate the relationship between SR and gambling problems. SP did, however, moderate the relationship between SR and the likelihood of never experiencing gambling problems. The results demonstrate that individual differences in SP and SR are functionally associated with gambling problems.
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Two incentive experiments on response behavior were conducted in a nonprofit online panel. Experiment 1 examined effects of a lottery and of the lottery’s splitting into multiple prizes. Two cash lotteries and a no-incentive control group were compared. One lottery was announced to be paid out in one lump sum, whereas the other lottery was split into multiple smaller prizes. Dependent variables were two facets of response quantity, namely response and retention, and two facets of response quality, namely nondifferentiation and item nonresponse. Moreover, panelists’ characteristics were tested whether they moderated the lottery effects. The lottery and its splitting did not significantly affect response behavior; however, in terms of effect sizes, splitting the lottery mildly decreased response quantity. Experiment 2 was in part aimed at replication. In addition, it examined the effect of offering study results. Dependent variables were response, retention, and nondifferentiation. The cash lottery mildly enhanced response quantity and quality, whereas splitting the lottery tended to decrease response quantity. Offering study results had no impact on response behavior, both as a stand-alone incentive and in combination with a lottery. The two experiments revealed moderating effects, but these were not stable across both studies. A share of invitees in Experiment 1 was reinvited in Experiment 2, thus enabling analysis of whether their lottery condition in Experiment 1 influenced their response behavior 5 months later in Experiment 2. No such longitudinal effects were found.
For several years now, the somatic aspect of emotions has been regarded as a major factor in the decision-making process. A large body of literature has investigated this issue, within the somatic marker hypothesis perspective, using the classical Iowa Gambling Task (IGT). Many studies reported an influence of clinical and differential factors, including personality, on IGT performance. On the other hand, personality appears to modulate the emotional responses as a function of valence (i.e., responses to rewards vs. punishments). The present study investigated whether the influence of personality on the decision-making process might be mediated by differential emotional responsiveness. Skin conductance levels were recorded in 32 subjects while performing the IGT. The results showed that novelty seeking (NS) modulated the skin conductance responses to feedback, and both NS and harm avoidance (HA) influenced anticipative response development. We also found that NS tended to modulate the final score, beyond the influence of beneficial anticipative autonomic responses. The present data partially support the hypothesis that personality-related differential emotional responsiveness may modulate somatic marker development in a decision-making situation. On the other hand, personality influence on the performance was not entirely explained by these emotional differences.
Pathological Gambling (PG) is the inability to resist recurrent urges to gamble excessively despite harmful consequences to the gambler or others. A cognitive-behavioral Pathways Model of PG (Blaszczynski & Nower, 2002) suggests individual differences in rash impulsivity and reward sensitivity, together with a cognitive style that promotes poor decision making, as risk factors. These individual differences were examined in a community sample of experienced slot machine players (N=100), who were classified into Low, Moderate, and Problem gambling groups according to the Problem Gambling Severity Index (Ferris & Wynne, 2001). There were significant group differences on rash impulsivity as measured by the Eysenck Impulsivity scale, and on reward sensitivity as measured by the BIS/BAS Drive scale. For cognitive style, there were differences on Actively Openminded Thinking (AOT), but not the Rational Experiential Inventory. Hierarchical regression analyses found that impulsivity and AOT predicted severity of PG, but that AOT mediated the effect of BAS Drive. A thinking style that promotes erroneous cognition may correlate with PG, but individual differences in rash impulsivity and reward-seeking play a more critical role in the etiology of PG. The individual characteristics of Pathological Gamblers are similar to those of people with Substance Use Disorders.
The purpose of the present study was to revise the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale Version 10 (BIS-10), identify the factor structure of the items among normals, and compare their scores on the revised form (BIS-11) with psychiatric inpatients and prison inmates. The scale was administered to 412 college undergraduates, 248 psychiatric inpatients, and 73 male prison inmates. Exploratory principal components analysis of the items identified six primary factors and three second-order factors. The three second-order factors were labeled Attentional Impulsiveness, Motor Impulsiveness, and Nonplanning Impulsiveness. Two of the three second-order factors identified in the BIS-11 were consistent with those proposed by Barratt (1985), but no cognitive impulsiveness component was identified per se. The results of the present study suggest that the total score of the BIS-11 is an internally consistent measure of impulsiveness and has potential clinical utility for measuring impulsiveness among selected patient and inmate populations.
Eight hundred and seventeen high school students in the Montreal region completed the DSM-IV-J diagnostic gambling measure, High School Personality Questionnaire (HSPQ), Zuckerman Sensation Seeking Scale (SSS), along with a gambling questionnaire ascertaining gambling participation and gambling-related behaviours. Eight of fourteen personality factors assessed by the HSPQ, as well as three of the four subscales of the SSS differed by gambling severity. A discriminant analysis found that high levels of Disinhibition, Boredom Susceptibility, Cheerfulness and Excitability, as well as low levels of Conformity, and Self-Discipline are strongly associated with the function that best predicts problem gambling severity level. The findings suggest that there exist qualitative differences in personality and risk-taking styles for adolescents based upon the severity of their gambling behaviour, lending support to the premise that certain types of individuals are more susceptible than others to developing a gambling problem. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
J. A. Gray (1981, 1982) holds that 2 general motivational systems underlie behavior and affect: a behavioral inhibition system (BIS) and a behavioral activation system (BAS). Self-report scales to assess dispositional BIS and BAS sensitivities were created. Scale development (Study 1) and convergent and discriminant validity in the form of correlations with alternative measures are reported (Study 2). In Study 3, a situation in which Ss anticipated a punishment was created. Controlling for initial nervousness, Ss high in BIS sensitivity (assessed earlier) were more nervous than those low in BIS sensitivity. In Study 4, a situation in which Ss anticipated a reward was created. Controlling for initial happiness, Ss high in BAS sensitivity (Reward Responsiveness and Drive scales) were happier than those low in BAS sensitivity. In each case the new scales predicted better than an alternative measure. Discussion is focused on conceptual implications. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The purpose of the present study was to revise the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale Version 10 (BIS-10), identify the factor structure of the items among normals, and compare their scores on the revised form (BIS-11) with psychiatric inpatients and prison inmates. The scale was administered to 412 college undergraduates, 248 psychiatric inpatients, and 73 male prison inmates. Exploratory principal components analysis of the items identified six primary factors and three second-order factors. The three second-order factors were labeled Attentional Impulsiveness, Motor Impulsiveness, and Nonplanning Impulsiveness. Two of the three second-order factors identified in the BIS-11 were consistent with those proposed by Barratt (1985), but no cognitive impulsiveness component was identified per se. The results of the present study suggest that the total score of the BIS-11 is an internally consistent measure of impulsiveness and has potential clinical utility for measuring impulsiveness among selected patient and inmate populations.
Joint effects of daily events and dispositional sensitivities to cues of reward and punishment on daily positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA) were examined in 3 diary studies. Study 1 showed that positive events were strongly related to PA but not NA, whereas negative events were strongly related to NA but not PA. Studies 2 and 3 examined how the dispositional sensitivities of independent appetitive and aversive motivational systems, the Behavioral Activation System (BAS) and the Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS), moderated these relationships. Participants in Study 2 with higher BAS sensitivity reported more PA on average; those with more sensitive BIS reported more NA. Also, BIS moderated reactions to negative events, such that higher BIS sensitivity magnified reactions to negative events. Study 3 replicated these findings and showed that BAS predisposed people to experience more positive events. Results demonstrate the value of distinguishing within-person and between-person effects to clarify the functionally independent processes by which dispositional sensitivities influence affect.
Investors systematically deviate from rationality when making financial decisions, yet the mechanisms responsible for these deviations have not been identified. Using event-related fMRI, we examined whether anticipatory neural activity would predict optimal and suboptimal choices in a financial decision-making task. We characterized two types of deviations from the optimal investment strategy of a rational risk-neutral agent as risk-seeking mistakes and risk-aversion mistakes. Nucleus accumbens activation preceded risky choices as well as risk-seeking mistakes, while anterior insula activation preceded riskless choices as well as risk-aversion mistakes. These findings suggest that distinct neural circuits linked to anticipatory affect promote different types of financial choices and indicate that excessive activation of these circuits may lead to investing mistakes. Thus, consideration of anticipatory neural mechanisms may add predictive power to the rational actor model of economic decision making.
Genetic variation may partially underlie complex personality and physiological traits--such as impulsivity, risk taking and stress responsivity--as well as a substantial proportion of vulnerability to addictive diseases. Furthermore, personality and physiological traits themselves may differentially affect the various stages of addiction, defined chronologically as initiation of drug use, regular drug use, addiction/dependence and potentially relapse. Here we focus on recent approaches to the study of genetic variation in these personality and physiological traits, and their influence on and interaction with addictive diseases.
Expected utility theory reigned for several decades as the dominant normative and descriptive model of decision making under uncertainty, but it has come under serious question in recent years. There is now general agreement that the theory does not provide an adequate description of individual choice: a substantial body of evidence shows that decision makers systematically violate its basic tenets. Many alternative models have been proposed in response to this empirical challenge (for reviews, see Camerer J Risk Uncertain 2:61–104, 1989; Fishburn Nonlinear preference and utility theory. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 1988; Machina Econ Perspect 1(1):121–154, 1987). Some time ago we presented a model of choice, called prospect theory, which explained the major violations of expected utility theory in choices between risky prospects with a small number of outcomes (Kahneman and Tversky Econometrica 47:263–291, 1979; Tversky and Kahneman J Bus 59(4):S251–S278, 1986). The key elements of this theory are (1) a value function that is concave for gains, convex for losses, and steeper for losses than for gains, and (2) a nonlinear transformation of the probability scale, which overweights small probabilities and underweights moderate and high probabilities. In an important later development, several authors (Quiggin J Econ Behav Organ 3, 323–343; Schmeidler Econometrica 57:571–587, 1989; Yaari Econometrica 55:95–115, 1987; Weymark Math Soc Sci 1:409–430, 1981) have advanced a new representation, called the rank-dependent or the cumulative functional, that transforms cumulative rather than individual probabilities. This article presents a new version of prospect theory that incorporates the cumulative functional and extends the theory to uncertain as well to risky prospects with any number of outcomes. The resulting model, called cumulative prospect theory, combines some of the attractive features of both developments (see also Luce and Fishburn J Risk Uncertain 4:29–59, 1991). It gives rise to different evaluations of gains and losses, which are not distinguished in the standard cumulative model, and it provides a unified treatment of both risk and uncertainty.
This literature review of decision making (how people make choices among desirable alternatives), culled from the disciplines of psychology, economics, and mathematics, covers the theory of riskless choices, the application of the theory of riskless choices to welfare economics, the theory of risky choices, transitivity of choices, and the theory of games and statistical decision functions. The theories surveyed assume rational behavior: individuals have transitive preferences ("… if A is preferred to B, and B is preferred to C, then A is preferred to C."), choosing from among alternatives in order to "… maximize utility or expected utility." 209-item bibliography. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The development of questionnaire scales to measure sensation seeking, first as a general trait and then as one with two or four facets, is described. Behavioral correlates of the trait include: volunteering for unusual or risky experiences, exceptional dangerous sports, fast and reckless driving, variety of sexual partners and activities, smoking, drinking and drugs, and risky or stressful vocations. Sensation seeking also influences preferences in art, media, music, movies, and television with a preference for novel, intense, and arousing themes like sex and violence.
We discuss the cognitive and the psy- chophysical determinants of choice in risky and risk- less contexts. The psychophysics of value induce risk aversion in the domain of gains and risk seeking in the domain of losses. The psychophysics of chance induce overweighting of sure things and of improbable events, relative to events of moderate probability. De- cision problems can be described or framed in multiple ways that give rise to different preferences, contrary to the invariance criterion of rational choice. The pro- cess of mental accounting, in which people organize the outcomes of transactions, explains some anomalies of consumer behavior. In particular, the acceptability of an option can depend on whether a negative outcome is evaluated as a cost or as an uncompensated loss. The relation between decision values and experience values is discussed. Making decisions is like speaking prose—people do it all the time, knowingly or unknowingly. It is hardly surprising, then, that the topic of decision making is shared by many disciplines, from mathematics and statistics, through economics and political science, to sociology and psychology. The study of decisions ad- dresses both normative and descriptive questions. The normative analysis is concerned with the nature of rationality and the logic of decision making. The de- scriptive analysis, in contrast, is concerned with peo- ple's beliefs and preferences as they are, not as they should be. The tension between normative and de- scriptive considerations characterizes much of the study of judgment and choice. Analyses of decision making commonly distin- guish risky and riskless choices. The paradigmatic example of decision under risk is the acceptability of a gamble that yields monetary outcomes with specified probabilities. A typical riskless decision concerns the acceptability of a transaction in which a good or a service is exchanged for money or labor. In the first part of this article we present an analysis of the cog- nitive and psychophysical factors that determine the value of risky prospects. In the second part we extend this analysis to transactions and trades. Risky Choice Risky choices, such as whether or not to take an umbrella and whether or not to go to war, are made without advance knowledge of their consequences. Because the consequences of such actions depend on uncertain events such as the weather or the opponent's resolve, the choice of an act may be construed as the acceptance of a gamble that can yield various out- comes with different probabilities. It is therefore nat- ural that the study of decision making under risk has focused on choices between simple gambles with monetary outcomes and specified probabilities, in the hope that these simple problems will reveal basic at- titudes toward risk and value. We shall sketch an approach to risky choice that
Joint effects of daily events and dispositional sensitivities to cues of reward and punishment on daily positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA) were examined in 3 diary studies. Study 1 showed that positive events were strongly related to PA but not NA, whereas negative events were strongly related to NA but not PA. Studies 2 and 3 examined how the dispositional sensitivities of independent appetitive and aversive motivational systems, the Behavioral Activation System (BAS) and the Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS), moderated these relationships. Participants in Study 2 with higher BAS sensitivity reported more PA on average; those with more sensitive BIS reported more NA. Also, BIS moderated reactions to negative events, such that higher BIS sensitivity magnified reactions to negative events. Study 3 replicated these findings and showed that BAS predisposed people to experience more positive events. Results demonstrate the value of distinguishing within-person and between-person effects to clarify the functionally independent processes by which dispositional sensitivities influence affect.
Gray (1981, 1982) holds that 2 general motivational systems underlie behavior and affect: a behavioral inhibition system (BIS) and a behavioral activation system (BAS). Self-report scales to assess dispositional BIS and BAS sensitivities were created. Scale development (Study 1) and convergent and discriminant validity in the form of correlations with alternative measures are reported (Study 2). In Study 3, a situation in which Ss anticipated a punishment was created. Controlling for initial nervousness, Ss high in BIS sensitivity (assessed earlier) were more nervous than those low. In Study 4, a situation in which Ss anticipated a reward was created. Controlling for initial happiness, Ss high in BAS sensitivity (Reward Responsiveness and Drive scales) were happier than those low. In each case the new scales predicted better than an alternative measure. Discussion is focused on conceptual implications.
Neurobiological research with animals strongly suggests that the brain systems which mediate emotion overlap with those that mediate cognition to such a degree that it is difficult, if not impossible, to maintain any clear distinction between them. Possible reasons for this overlap are discussed; and a model of brain systems that simultaneously subserve emotion and cognition is presented. The model postulates the existence of three fundamental systems of this kind in the mammalian brain: a behavioural approach system, a fight/flight system, and a behavioural inhibition system. The neuropsychology of each of these systems is briefly presented.
Proactive risk-taking is defined as decision-making under conditions of measurable uncertainty by a decision-maker who chooses goals and means in the service of attaining long-term subjective well-being. Such decisions are indispensable in modern life given the variety of challenges imposed by a massive population and complex systems of communication and interaction: Selective proactive risk-taking (PART) taps the human capacity for coping with complexity in narrowly defined domains and is reliably associated with mean hedonic levels. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
the relation of 3 biogenic amines—dopamine (DA), serotonin [5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT)], and norepinephrine (NE)—to nonpsychotic psychopathology is explored / each of the amine sections addresses similar issues, including (1) an overview of the anatomy of the amine system, (2) generalized functional role of the amine in information processing in the brain, (3) the behavioral effects of variation in the functional level of the amine and its role in behavioral systems, and (4) the contribution of the amine to certain forms of nonpsychotic psychopathologies / focus on the processes that may mediate the effects of the environment on neurobiology / take a broad perspective on these processes in that they would apply to the mediation of life experiences of various kinds, rather than just major life stressors / moreover, these processes would apply to psychopathology in general, although specificity plays a role with respect to the neurobiological system under consideration
use a specific behavioral system associated with DA functioning as a convenient example to illuminate the processes described / the potential relation of these processes to disorders of affect [and panic disorder] are discussed in a subsequent section
DA, behavioral facilitation, mediation of environmental experience, and disorders of affect / serotonin, behavioral stability, and disorders of affect, impulse control, and motor activity / NE, directed attention, negative emotionality, and panic disorder (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This paper explores the relation between decision theoretic conceptions of risk and the conceptions held by executives. It considers recent studies of risk attitudes and behavior among managers against the background of conceptions of risk derived from theories of choice. We conclude that managers take risks and exhibit risk preferences, but the processes that generate those observables are somewhat removed from the classical processes of choosing from among alternative actions in terms of the mean (expected value) and variance (risk) of the probability distributions over possible outcomes. We identify three major ways in which the conceptions of risk and risk taking held by these managers lead to orientations to risk that are different from what might be expected from a decision theory perspective: Managers are quite insensitive to estimates of the probabilities of possible outcomes; their decisions are particularly affected by the way their attention is focused on critical performance targets; and they make a sharp distinction between taking risks and gambling. These differences, along with closely related observations drawn from other studies of individual and organizational choice, indicate that the behavioral phenomenon of risk taking in organizational settings will be imperfectly understood within a classical conception of risk.
Abstract. Fun is the force that drives play in games. Therefore a science of fun is needed to engineer games that are engaging
for players, including the design of software agents that play against and along with human beings in computer games. EVE_ is a computational theory, based on a psychological progression of Expectations (E), Violations (V) and Explanations (E_) that in turn evoke emotional responses known as fun or flow. Here EVE_ is developed for the case of gambling games, specifically slot machines, deriving a Bayesian-information measure of aesthetic
utility that is not modeled by the economic utility of previous proposals like Prospect Theory. The derivation shows how aesthetic
utility can be measured by entropy and how fun can be seen as a form of learning. EVE’s contribution lies in going beyond
classical economics and computational intelligence to analyze the aesthetics of enjoyment and engagement – towards a science
of fun.
The purpose of the study was to investigate the effect of impulsivity as a mediator in the relationship between depression and problem gambling in a non-clinical sample. A questionnaire containing demographic questions, the Revised South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS-R), a depression inventory, and the Eysenck impulsiveness scale was completed by 159 New Zealand university students who gambled for money, aged 18–49 years (mean = 27.9, SD = 10.2). Depression, impulsivity and problem gambling were significantly correlated (p < 0.01), after controlling for sex and age. Multiple linear regression analysis of data showed that impulsivity functioned as a full mediator between depression and problem gambling. The findings were related to an integrated model of problem gambling wherein the path of emotional vulnerability (depression) to the severity of problem gambling, is mediated by an impulsive trait. Therapies for impulse control could be supplemented with treatments which alleviate emotional depression in impulsive gamblers and thus attenuate the strengths of the effects of depression and impulsivity on problem gambling symptoms.
Discusses the cognitive and the psychophysical determinants of choice in risky and riskless contexts. The psychophysics of value induce risk aversion in the domain of gains and risk seeking in the domain of losses. The psychophysics of chance induce overweighting of sure things and of improbable events, relative to events of moderate probability. Decision problems can be described or framed in multiple ways that give rise to different preferences, contrary to the invariance criterion of rational choice. The process of mental accounting, in which people organize the outcomes of transactions, explains some anomalies of consumer behavior. In particular, the acceptability of an option can depend on whether a negative outcome is evaluated as a cost or as an uncompensated loss. The relationships between decision values and experience values and between hedonic experience and objective states are discussed. (27 ref)
Neurological patients with focal lesions in either the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, temporal-parietal junction or the posterior hippocampus, and control subjects, were tested on a task requiring short-term retention of environmental sounds. Subjects had to indicate whether initial and subsequent test sounds were identical in two conditions. The initial and test sounds were separated by either a silent period varying from 4 to 12.6 s (no-distractor condition) or a series of irrelevant tones (distractor condition). Prefrontal patients were significantly impaired by distractors at all delays, hippocampal patients were impaired only at longer delays, while temporal-parietal patients performed similar to controls. The findings suggest that dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is crucial for gating of distracting information during delay tasks.
Models of neurobiological systems linking personality, motivation, and emotion can be integrated with the expectancy construct to suggest hypotheses about distress and giving up in response to adversity. In 220 women with breast cancer, threat responsiveness-sensitivity of the behavioral inhibition system (BIS)-and incentive responsiveness-sensitivity of the behavioral activation system (BAS)-and expectancies about cancer recurrence were measured. It was predicted and found that high BIS sensitivity interacted with recurrence expectancy to predict elevated distress and disengagement. Low BAS sensitivity (reward responsiveness) also interacted with expectancy of recurrence to predict elevated disengagement. In contrast, high BAS sensitivity (fun seeking) interacted with recurrence expectancy to predict elevated distress. Discussion centers on theoretical implications and possible applications.
According to "The Neuropsychology of Anxiety" [Gray, J.A., 1982, The Neuropsychology of Anxiety: An Enquiry into the Functions of the Septo-hippocampal System, Oxford University Press, Oxford; Gray, J.A., McNaughton, N., 2000, The Neuropsychology of Anxiety: An Enquiry into the Functions of the Septo-hippocampal System, 2nd ed., Oxford University Press, Oxford], anxiolytic drugs of all types act on a behavioural inhibition system, the most important neural component of which is the septo-hippocampal system. Anxiolytics affect septo-hippocampal function by impairing the subcortical control of hippocampal "theta" activity - the principle response of the septo-hippocampal system to arousal. Our recent experiments show that there are multiple systems controlling theta activity and that anxiolytics act on several, but not all, of these systems. This pattern of results implies that there are many different types of arousal, only some of which appear to contribute to the generation of anxiety in normal subjects and to the etiology of pathological anxiety.
This study evaluated behavioral and self-report indices of impulsiveness in pathological gambling substance abusers (n=27), non-pathological gambling substance abusers (n=63), and non-pathological gambling/non-substance abusing controls (n=21). The Bechara card task measured preferences for decks of cards that ranged in magnitude and probability of delayed and immediate rewards and punishers. The Stanford Time Perception Inventory (STPI) assessed orientation to the future, the Zuckerman Sensation Seeking Scale evaluated sensation seeking, and the Eysenck and Barratt scales measured impulsivity. A Principal Components analysis revealed that these personality measures comprised three distinct measures of impulsivity: impulse control, novelty seeking and time orientation. Linear contrast analyses revealed that substance abuse and pathological gambling resulted in additive effects on the impulse control and time orientation factors, but not on the novelty-seeking scale. Performance on the card task did not correlate with any of the three factors derived from the personality scale scores, but the presence of both substance abuse and pathological gambling had an additive effect on preferences for decks containing greater immediate gains but resulting in large punishers and overall net losses. These results provide further evidence of an association among substance abuse, pathological gambling, and impulsivity.
Limited data are available about the validity of the diagnosis of pathological gambling (PG) and about the etiology and the efficacy of different treatment strategies of this disorder; however, similarities in decision-making behavior between PG patients and patients with ventromedial prefrontal cortex lesions suggest a possible implication of these areas in the pathophysiology of this disorder, as in obsessive-compulsive disorder, in which the decision-making impairment is significantly associated with response to serotonin reuptake inhibitor treatment. Nevertheless, several studies have shown that decision-making functioning is also impaired in drug-addicted patients who have shown abnormalities in ventromedial prefrontal cortex during functional neuroimaging studies.
We assessed the decision-making function mediated by the ventromedial prefrontal cortex in 20 PG patients and 40 healthy control (HC) subjects using the Gambling Task, which simulates real-life decision-making, testing the ability to balance immediate rewards against long-term negative consequence.
Significant differences were found in Gambling Task performance between HC subjects and PG patients, who showed a specific decision-making profile across the sequence of the game. The dissimilarity does not appear to depend on the basic cognitive function deficit of the PG group.
These data seem to suggest the existence of a link between PG and other disorders (i.e., obsessive-compulsive disorder and drug addiction) all having diminished ability to evaluate future consequences, which may be explained at least in part by an abnormal functioning of the orbitofrontal cortex.
This article reports the development of a Sensation Seeking Scale (SSS) designed to quantify the construct: "optimal stimulation level." Items were written, using the construct as a guide, and given to undergraduates. The items were factor analyzed. A general factor was found and the item-factor correlation pattern was similar in males and females. In another sample, satisfactory reliability for the SSS was obtained and it was found to be positively correlated with field independence as measured by the Embedded Figures Test. In a third sample, nonsignificant correlations between SSS and Howard's Stimulus Seeking Maze tests were found. A significant negative correlation between SSS and anxiety, as measured by the Multiple Affect Adjective Check List was obtained.
Emotion has been both lauded and vilified for its role in decision making. How are people able to ensure that helpful emotions guide decision making and irrelevant emotions are kept out of decision making? The orbitofrontal cortex has been identified as a neural area involved in incorporating emotion into decision making. Is this area's function specific to the integration of emotion and cognition, or does it more broadly govern whether emotional information should be integrated into cognition? The present research examined the role of orbitofrontal cortex when it was appropriate to control (i.e., prevent) the influence of emotion in decision making (Experiment 1) and to incorporate the influence of emotion in decision making (Experiment 2). Together, the two studies suggest that activity in lateral orbitofrontal cortex is associated with evaluating the contextual relevance of emotional information for decision making.
Pathological Gambling is an impulse control disorder. Impulsivity has been investigated separately by neuropsychological tests and self-report scales. Although some studies have tried to correlate these approaches, their interaction has not been sufficiently explored among pathological gamblers (PG). In this study, we have compared 214 PG (162 with comorbidity and 52 with no comorbidity) to 82 healthy volunteers regarding the reaction time and number of errors at Go/No-go tasks, and scores on the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS). PG have committed more errors at the Go/No-go tasks and presented higher scores on the self-report scale. The neuropsychological tests and BIS composed a multinomial logistic model that discriminated PG from non-gamblers better than models having one or another type of measure. Impulsivity seems to be a multi-dimensional phenomenon, and PG a heterogeneous population in which different types of impulsivity are present.
We develop a new version of prospect theory that employs cumulative rather than separable decision weights and extends the theory in several respects. This version, called cumulative prospect theory, applies to uncertain as well as to risky prospects with any number of outcomes, and it allows different weighting functions for gains and for losses. Two principles, diminishing sensitivity and loss aversion, are invoked to explain the characteristic curvature of the value function and the weighting functions. A review of the experimental evidence and the results of a new experiment confirm a distinctive fourfold pattern of risk: risk aversion for gains and risk seeking for losses of high probability; risk seeking for gains and risk aversion for losses of low probability. Copyright 1992 by Kluwer Academic Publishers
Analysis of decision making under risk has been dominated by expected utility theory, which generally accounts for people's actions. Presents a critique of expected utility theory as a descriptive model of decision making under risk, and argues that common forms of utility theory are not adequate, and proposes an alternative theory of choice under risk called prospect theory. In expected utility theory, utilities of outcomes are weighted by their probabilities. Considers results of responses to various hypothetical decision situations under risk and shows results that violate the tenets of expected utility theory. People overweight outcomes considered certain, relative to outcomes that are merely probable, a situation called the "certainty effect." This effect contributes to risk aversion in choices involving sure gains, and to risk seeking in choices involving sure losses. In choices where gains are replaced by losses, the pattern is called the "reflection effect." People discard components shared by all prospects under consideration, a tendency called the "isolation effect." Also shows that in choice situations, preferences may be altered by different representations of probabilities. Develops an alternative theory of individual decision making under risk, called prospect theory, developed for simple prospects with monetary outcomes and stated probabilities, in which value is given to gains and losses (i.e., changes in wealth or welfare) rather than to final assets, and probabilities are replaced by decision weights. The theory has two phases. The editing phase organizes and reformulates the options to simplify later evaluation and choice. The edited prospects are evaluated and the highest value prospect chosen. Discusses and models this theory, and offers directions for extending prospect theory are offered. (TNM)
Scarne's new complete guide to gambling
- J Scarne
Scarne, J. (1961). Scarne's new complete guide to gambling. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.
Frontal lobe dysfunction in pathological gambling patients
- P Cavedini
- G Riboldi
- R Keller
- A D 'annucci
- L Bellodi
Cavedini, P., Riboldi, G., Keller, R., D'Annucci, A., & Bellodi, L. (2002). Frontal lobe dysfunction in pathological
gambling patients. Biological Psychiatry, 15, 334–341.
Controlling the integration of emotion and cognition: The role of frontal cortex in distinguishing helpful from hurtful emotional information
- J S Beer
- R T Knight
- M Esposito
Beer, J. S., Knight, R. T., & D'Esposito, M. (2006). Controlling the integration of emotion and cognition: The role of
frontal cortex in distinguishing helpful from hurtful emotional information. Psychological Science, 17(5), 448–453.
Factor structure of the Barratt impulsiveness scale
- Patton
Frontal lobe dysfunction in pathological gambling patients
- Cavedini
Brain systems that mediate both emotion and cognition. Special issue: Development of relationships between emotion and cognition
- Gray