I like your chances
Becky Choma et al.
Social Psychological and Personality Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
Political conservatives, compared to liberals, are commonly thought to be more threat-sensitive and risk-averse. Using an American sample of community adults (n = 397), we investigated when conservatives and liberals might be risk-taking or risk-averse. Participants completed measures of political orientation, and perceptions of risk, expected benefits (EB) of risk, and risk-propensity, across five domains (financial, recreational, ethical, social, and health). The relation between perceptions of risk and EB and risk-propensity differed as a function of political conservatism and varied across risk domains. For example, with regard to new business ventures, conservatives were generally willing to take risks unless perceived risk was high and expected benefit was low, whereas liberals were generally unwilling to take risks unless perceived risk was low and expected benefit was high. Implications for understanding risk-taking are considered.
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Gambling Increases Self-Control Strength in Problem Gamblers
Anne Bergen, Ian Newby-Clark & Andrea Brown
Journal of Gambling Studies, March 2014, Pages 153-162
Abstract:
In two studies it is demonstrated that, in the short-term, slot machine gambling increases self-control strength in problem gamblers. In Study 1 (N = 180), participants were randomly assigned to either play slot machines or engage in a control task (word anagrams) for 15 min. Subsequent self-control strength was measured via persistence on an impossible tracing task. Replicating Bergen et al. (J Gambl Stud, doi:10.1007/s10899-011-9274-9, 2011), control condition participants categorized as problem gamblers persisted for less time than did lower gambling risk participants. However, in the slot machine condition, there were no significant differences in persistence amongst participants as a function of their gambling classification. Moreover, problem gambling participants in the slot machine condition persisted at the impossible tracing task longer than did problem gambling participants in the control condition. Study 2 (N = 209) systematically replicated Study 1. All participants initially completed two tasks known to deplete self-control strength and a different control condition (math problems) was used. Study 2 results were highly similar to those of Study 1. The results of the studies have implications for the helping professions. Specifically, helping professionals should be aware that problem gamblers might seek out gambling as a means of increasing self-control strength.
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Illusionary pattern detection in habitual gamblers
Andreas Wilke et al.
Evolution and Human Behavior, forthcoming
Abstract:
Does problem gambling arise from an illusion that patterns exist where there are none? Our prior research suggested that “hot hand,” a tendency to perceive illusory streaks in sequences, may be a human universal, tied to an evolutionary history of foraging for clumpy resources. Like other evolved propensities, this tendency might be expressed more strongly in some people than others, leading them to see luck where others see only chance. If the desire to gamble is enhanced by illusory pattern detection, such individual differences could be predictive of gambling risk. While previous research has suggested a potential link between cognitive strategies and propensity to gamble, no prior study has directly measured gamblers’ cognitive strategies using behavioral choice tasks, and linked them to risk-taking or gambling propensities. Using a computerized sequential decision-making paradigm that directly measured subjects’ predictions of sequences, we found evidence that subjects who have a greater tendency to gamble also have a higher tendency to perceive illusionary patterns, as measured by their preferences for a random slot machine over a negatively autocorrelated one. Casino gamblers played the random slot machine significantly more often even though a training phase and a history of outcomes was provided. Additionally, we found a marginally significant group difference between gamblers and matched community members in their slot-machine choice proportions. Performance on our behavioral choice task correlated with subjects’ risk attitudes towards gambling and their frequency of play, as well as the selection of choice strategies in gambling activities.
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Lisa Lole et al.
Psychophysiology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Physiological arousal is purportedly a key determinant in the development and maintenance of gambling behaviors, with problem gambling conceptualized in terms of abnormal autonomic responses. Theoretical conceptualizations of problem gambling are discordant regarding the nature of deficit in this disorder; some accounts posit that problem gamblers are hypersensitive to reward, and others that they are hyposensitive to reward and/or punishment. Previous research examining phasic electrodermal responses in gamblers has been limited to laboratory settings, and reactions to real gaming situations need to be examined. Skin conductance responses (SCRs) to losses, wins, and losses disguised as wins (LDWs) were recorded from 15 problem gamblers (PGs) and 15 nonproblem gamblers (NPGs) while they wagered their own money during electronic gaming machine play. PGs demonstrated significantly reduced SCRs to reward. SCRs to losses and LDWs did not differ for either PGs or NPGs. This hyposensitivity to wins may reflect abnormalities in incentive processing, and may represent a potential biological marker for problem gambling.
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Using aesthetics and self-affirmation to encourage openness to risky (and safe) choices
Suzanne Shu & Claudia Townsend
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, March 2014, Pages 22-39
Abstract:
Research has shown self-affirmation to be a powerful tool for increasing openness to arguments. However, prior examinations of its effects involved manipulations with limited applicability outside the laboratory. Building on recent work suggesting that choice of highly aesthetic products can be a form of affirmation, we proposed and tested whether merely affiliating people with high aesthetics can affirm their sense of self and thus encourage openness to arguments advocating selection of one option over another. In 3 experiments we examined this effect in financial and consumer decisions in which choices varied in their inherent risk. Across the experiments, after affiliating people with high (vs. low) aesthetics, they were more likely to select the advocated option — whether that option was the riskier or less risky option. This occurred using actual annual reports and a sample of experienced investors (Experiment 1), when the aesthetic affiliation and the choice tasks were in entirely unrelated areas (Experiment 2) and was driven by greater openness to arguments (Experiment 3). Together these studies offer a self-affirmation manipulation that is relevant and easily used by practitioners in a variety of fields. They also provide novel insights on the link between aesthetics, self-affirmation, openness, and risk taking.
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Gene Effects and G × E Interactions in the Differential Prediction of Three Aspects of Impulsiveness
Charles Carver et al.
Social Psychological and Personality Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
Several polymorphisms relevant to dopamine and serotonin have been identified as potential contributors to individual differences in impulsivity versus self-control. Because impulsivity is a multifaceted construct, a need remains to examine more closely how various genes relate to different aspects of impulsivity. We examined four dopamine-related polymorphisms and the serotonin transporter as predictors of three aspects of impulsivity, two bearing on impulsive reactions to emotions and one on difficulty in completing intended actions. Early adversity was also examined as a potentiator of genetic effects. Undergraduates completed measures of impulsivity and early adversity and were genotyped. COMT, BDNF, DRD4, and 5HTTLPR (the latter two in interaction with early adversity) made independent contributions to prediction of Pervasive Influence of Feelings. BDNF made a contribution to Lack of Follow-Through. ANKK1 and 5HTTLPR (both in interaction with early adversity) made independent contributions to Feelings Trigger Action. Thus, five polymorphisms contributed to predicting impulsivity, but different polymorphisms related to different aspects.
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Preference on Cash-Choice Task Predicts Externalizing Outcomes in 17-Year-Olds
Jordan Sparks, Joshua Isen & William Iacono
Behavior Genetics, March 2014, Pages 102-112
Abstract:
Delay-discounting, the tendency to prefer a smaller-sooner reward to a larger-later reward, has been associated with a range of externalizing behaviors. Laboratory delay-discounting tasks have emerged as a useful measure to index impulsivity and a proclivity towards externalizing pyschopathology. While many studies demonstrate the existence of a latent externalizing factor that is heritable, there have been few genetic studies of delay-discounting. Further, the increased vulnerability for risky behavior in adolescence makes adolescent samples an attractive target for future research, and expeditious, ecologically-valid delay-discounting measures are helpful in this regard. The primary goal of this study was to help validate the utility of a “cash-choice” measure for use in a sample of older adolescents. We used a sample of 17-year-old twins (n = 791) from the Minnesota Twin Family Enrichment study. Individuals who chose the smaller-sooner reward were more likely to have used a range of addictive substances, engaged in sexual intercourse, and earned lower GPAs. Best fitting biometric models from univariate analyses supported the heritability of cash-choice and externalizing, but bivariate modeling results indicated that the correlation between cash-choice and externalizing was determined largely by shared environmental influences, thus failing to support cash-choice as a possible endophenotype for externalizing in this age group. Our findings lend further support to the utility of cash-choice as a measure of individual differences in decision making and suggest that, by late adolescence, this task indexes shared environmental risk for externalizing behavior.
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Personality Correlates of Risky Health Outcomes: Findings from a Large Internet Study
Olivia Atherton et al.
Journal of Research in Personality, forthcoming
Abstract:
Numerous studies have documented the effects of personality on health outcomes. However, which traits are most relevant to health, and the precise magnitude of their effects, is inconsistent across studies. The present study used a large sample (N=460,172) to replicate and extend the relations between the Big Five and three health-related outcomes: self-reported health, body mass index, and substance use. Low Conscientiousness predicted all outcomes, indicating that individuals who are less responsible and less self-controlled tend to report poorer health, be more overweight, and engage in more substance use. In addition, individuals who were more emotionally unstable (high Neuroticism) reported poorer health, and individuals prone to seek out social experiences and rewards (high Extraversion) engaged in more frequent substance use.
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Knowing Where to Draw the Line: Perceptual Differences between Risk-takers and Non-Risk-Takers
Adam Biggs et al.
PLoS ONE, March 2014
Abstract:
There are a variety of reasons someone might engage in risky behaviors, such as perceived invulnerability to harm or a belief that negative outcomes are more likely for others than for oneself. However, these risk-taking biases are often measured at a decision-making level or from the developmental perspective. Here we assessed whether or not risk-taking influenced perceptual judgments associated with risk. Participants were provided an objective task to measure individual differences in the perception of physical dimensions (i.e., actual size of a balloon) versus the perception of risk (i.e., size at which the balloon would explode). Our results show that specific differences in risk-taking personalities produce specific differences in perceptual judgments about risk, but do not affect perception of the actual dimensions. Thus, risk-takers differ from non-risk-takers in the perceptual estimations they make about risks, and therefore may be more likely to engage in dangerous or uncertain behaviors because they perceive risks differently.
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When Do I Wear Me Out? Mental Simulation and the Diminution of Self-Control
Neil Macrae et al.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, forthcoming
Abstract:
Exerting self-control can diminish people’s capacity to engage in subsequent acts of behavioral regulation, a phenomenon termed ego depletion. But what of imaginary regulatory experiences—does simulated restraint elicit comparable lapses in self-control? Here we demonstrate such effects under theoretically tractable imagery conditions. Across 3 experiments, temporal, structural, and spatial components of mental simulation were observed to drive the efficacy of imaginary self-control. In Experiment 1, lapses in restraint (i.e., financial impulsivity) were more pronounced when imaginary regulation (i.e., dietary restraint) focused on an event in the near versus distant future. In Experiment 2, comparable effects (i.e., increased stereotyping) emerged when simulated self-control (i.e., emotional suppression) was imagined from a first-person (cf. third-person) visual perspective. In Experiment 3, restraint was diminished (i.e., increased risk taking) when self-regulation (i.e., action control) centered on an event at a near versus distant location. These findings further delineate the conditions under which mental simulation impacts core aspects of social–cognitive functioning.