scholarly journals When imitating successful others fails: Accidentally successful exemplars inspire risky decisions and can hamper performance

2020 ◽  
Vol 73 (6) ◽  
pp. 941-956
Author(s):  
Wijnand AP van Tilburg ◽  
Nikhila Mahadevan
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Influence ◽  
Risk Taking ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Gambling Behaviour ◽  
Risky Decision Making ◽  
Regression To The Mean ◽  
Risky Behaviour ◽  
Risky Decision ◽  
The Impact

We examined the impact of viewing exemplars on people’s behaviour in risky decision-making environments. Specifically, we tested if people disproportionally choose to view and then imitate the behaviour of successful (vs. unsuccessful) others, which in the case of risky decision-making increases risk-taking and can hamper performance. In doing so, our research tested how a fundamental social psychological process (social influence) interacts with a fundamental statistical phenomenon (regression to the mean) to produce biases in decision-making. Experiment 1 ( N = 96) showed that people indeed model their own behaviour after that of a successful exemplar, resulting in more risky behaviour and poorer outcomes. Experiment 2 ( N = 208) indicated that people disproportionately choose to examine and then imitate most successful versus least successful exemplars. Experiment 3 ( N = 381) replicated Experiment 2 in a context where participants were offered the freedom to examine any possible exemplar, or no exemplar whatsoever, and across different incentive conditions. The results have implications for decision-making in a broad range of social contexts, such as education, health, and finances where risk-taking can have detrimental outcomes, and they may be particularly helpful to understand the role of social influence in gambling behaviour.

The influence of romantic partners on male risk-taking

2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (5) ◽  
pp. 1405-1415
Author(s):  
Karol Silva ◽  
Jason Chein ◽  
Laurence Steinberg
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Context ◽  
Risk Taking ◽  
Romantic Partners ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Romantic Partner ◽  
Risky Decision Making ◽  
Risky Decision ◽  
Attractive Female ◽  
The Impact

Studies show that young men’s tendency to take risks may be exacerbated or attenuated in different social contexts. Despite widespread evidence that social context influences young men’s risk-taking, few studies have examined the impact of romantic partners on risky decision-making. The present study examined risk-taking among young men in relationships with women ( n = 134, ages 18–24) randomly assigned to be tested alone ( n = 47), in the presence of their romantic partner ( n = 44), or in the presence of an attractive female stranger ( n = 43). The presence of a romantic partner diminished young men’s tendency to take risks. Findings demonstrate that a dampening effect on risk-taking is attributable to the romantic partner’s presence and not merely due to knowledge of being in a relationship.

scholarly journals Impact of Cannabinoid Type 1 Receptor Modulation on Risky Decision-Making

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy G. Freels ◽  
Anna E. Liley ◽  
Daniel B. K. Gabriel ◽  
Nicholas W. Simon
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Risk Taking ◽  
Neural Substrates ◽  
Risky Decision Making ◽  
Risky Decision ◽  
Cannabinoid Type 1 Receptor ◽  
Receptor Modulation ◽  
Choice Latency ◽  
The Impact

ABSTRACTRecent changes in policy regarding cannabis in the U.S. have been accompanied by an increase in the prevalence of cannabis use and a reduction in the perceived harms associated with consumption. However, little is understood regarding the effects of cannabinoids on cognitive processes. Given that deficient risk-taking is commonly observed in individuals suffering from substance use disorders (SUDs), we assessed the impact of manipulating cannabinoid type 1 receptors (CB1Rs; the primary target for Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol in the brain) on punishment-based risk-taking using the risky decision-making task (RDT) in male Long-Evans rats. The RDT measures preference for small, safe rewards over large, risky rewards associated with an escalating chance of foot shock. Systemic bidirectional CB1R manipulation with a CB1R agonist, CB1R antagonist, and FAAH inhibitor (which increases overall endocannabinoid tone) did not alter overt risk-taking in the RDT. Interestingly, direct CB1R agonism, but not indirect CB1R stimulation or CB1R blockade, resulted in reduction in latency to make risky choices while not altering safe choice latency. Our findings suggest that CB1R activation expedites engagement in punishment based risk-taking without affecting overall preference for risky vs. safe options. This indicates that risk preference and rate of deliberation for risk-taking are influenced by distinct neural substrates, an important consideration for development of precise treatments targeting the aberrant risk-taking typical of SUD symptomology.

Modeling the Effects of Sleep Deprivation on Real-Time Risky Decision-Making

1998 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 330-334
Author(s):  
Joshua B. Hurwitz
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Risk Perception ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Risk Taking ◽  
Time Of Day ◽  
Risky Decision Making ◽  
Risky Decision ◽  
Distance Information ◽  
Driving Task ◽  
Response Choices

Increased real-time risk-taking under sleep loss could be marked by changes in risk perception or acceptance. Risk-perception processes are those involved in estimating real-time parameters such as the speeds and distances of hazardous objects. Risk-acceptance processes relate to response choices given risk estimates. Risk-taking under fatigue was studied using a simulated intersection-crossing driving task in which subjects decided when it was safe to cross an intersection as an oncoming car approached from the cross street. The subjects performed this task at 3-hour intervals over a 36-hour period without sleep. Results were modeled using a model of real-time risky decision making that has perceptual components that process speed, time and distance information, and a decisional component for accepting risk. Results showed that varying a parameter for the decisional component across sessions best accounted for variations in performance relating to time of day.

scholarly journals Modernizing Conceptions of Valuation and Cognitive-Control Deployment in Adolescent Risk Taking

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 102-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathy T. Do ◽  
Paul B. Sharp ◽  
Eva H. Telzer
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Control System ◽  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Computational Model ◽  
Risk Taking ◽  
Expected Value ◽  
Risky Decision Making ◽  
Risky Decision ◽  
Adolescent Risk ◽  
Risk Taking Behavior

Heightened risk taking in adolescence has long been attributed to valuation systems overwhelming the deployment of cognitive control. However, this explanation of why adolescents engage in risk taking is insufficient given increasing evidence that risk-taking behavior can be strategic and involve elevated cognitive control. We argue that applying the expected-value-of-control computational model to adolescent risk taking can clarify under what conditions control is elevated or diminished during risky decision-making. Through this lens, we review research examining when adolescent risk taking might be due to—rather than a failure of—effective cognitive control and suggest compelling ways to test such hypotheses. This effort can resolve when risk taking arises from an immaturity of the control system itself, as opposed to arising from differences in what adolescents value relative to adults. It can also identify promising avenues for channeling cognitive control toward adaptive outcomes in adolescence.

scholarly journals Heightened Adolescent Risk-Taking? Insights From Lab Studies on Age Differences in Decision-Making

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 56-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivy N. Defoe ◽  
Judith Semon Dubas ◽  
Daniel Romer
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Age Differences ◽  
Risk Taking ◽  
Real World ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Risky Decision Making ◽  
Risky Decision ◽  
Neuropsychological Development ◽  
Integrative Framework ◽  
Adolescent Risk

Surveys concur that adolescents disproportionately engage in many real-world risk behaviors, compared with children and adults. Recently researchers have employed laboratory risky decision-making tasks to replicate this apparent heightened adolescent risk-taking. This review builds on the main findings of the first meta-analysis of such age differences in risky decision-making in the laboratory. Overall, although adolescents engage in more risky decision-making than adults, adolescents engage in risky decision-making equal to children. However, adolescents take fewer risks than children on tasks that allow the option of opting out of taking a risk. To reconcile findings on age differences in risk-taking in the real-world versus the laboratory, an integrative framework merges theories on neuropsychological development with ecological models that emphasize the importance of risk exposure in explaining age differences in risk-taking. Policy insights and recent developments are discussed.

scholarly journals Dopaminergic drug effects on probability weighting during risky decision-making

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karita E. Ojala ◽  
Lieneke K. Janssen ◽  
Mahur M. Hashemi ◽  
Monique H. M. Timmer ◽  
Dirk E. M. Geurts ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Prospect Theory ◽  
Risk Taking ◽  
Subjective Probability ◽  
Probability Weighting ◽  
Risky Decision Making ◽  
Risky Decision ◽  
Placebo Condition ◽  
Pathological Gamblers ◽  
Dopaminergic Drug

AbstractDopamine has been associated with risky decision-making, as well as with pathological gambling, a behavioural addiction characterized by excessive risk-taking behaviour. However, the specific mechanisms through which dopamine might act to foster risk-taking and pathological gambling remain elusive. Here we test the hypothesis that this might be achieved, in part, via modulation of subjective probability weighing during decision-making. Healthy controls (n = 21) and pathological gamblers (n = 16) played a decision-making task involving choices between sure monetary options and risky gambles both in the gain and loss domains. Each participant played the task twice, either under placebo or the dopamine D2/D3 receptor antagonist sulpiride, in a double-blind, counter-balanced, design. A prospect theory modelling approach was used to estimate subjective probability weighting and sensitivity to monetary outcomes. Consistent with prospect theory, we found that participants presented a distortion in the subjective weighting of probabilities, i.e. they overweighted low probabilities and underweighted moderate to high probabilities, both in the gain and loss domains. Compared with placebo, sulpiride attenuated this distortion in the gain domain. Across drugs, the groups did not differ in their probability weighting, although in the placebo condition, gamblers consistently underweighted losing probabilities. Overall, our results reveal that dopamine D2/D3 receptor antagonism modulates the subjective weighting of probabilities in the gain domain, in the direction of more objective, economically rational decision-making.Significance statementDopamine has been implicated in risky decision-making and gambling addiction, but the exact mechanisms underlying this influence remain partly elusive. Here we tested the hypothesis that dopamine modulates subjective probability weighting, by examining the effect of a dopaminergic drug on risk-taking behaviour, both in healthy individuals and pathological gamblers. We found that selectively blocking dopamine D2/D3 receptors diminished the typically observed distortion of winning probabilities, characterized by an overweighting of low probabilities and underweighting of high probabilities. This made participants more linear in their subjective estimation of probabilities, and thus more rational in their decision-making behaviour. Healthy participants and pathological gamblers did not differ in their risk-taking behaviour, except in the placebo condition in which gamblers consistently underweighted losing probabilities.

scholarly journals No differences between autistic and non-autistic adults in social influence on risky decision-making

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lydia Hickman ◽  
Connor Keating ◽  
Jennifer Cook ◽  
Elliot Andrew Ludvig
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Influence ◽  
Social Information ◽  
Risky Choice ◽  
Social Cues ◽  
Risky Decision Making ◽  
Risky Decision ◽  
The Social ◽  
Comparable Performance ◽  
Autistic Adults

Everyday risky decisions are susceptible to influence from a variety of sources, including the social context in which decisions take place. In the general population, people update their risk preferences based on knowledge of choices made by previous participants. In this study, we examined the influence of social information on the risky decision-making of autistic adults, a group in which differences in social processing have been observed. Autistic and non-autistic adults completed a risky decision-making task in the presence of both social and non-social information, either choosing for themselves or someone else on each trial. Notably, the social information comprised tokens that represented preferences of previous participants and was thus devoid of overt social cues such as faces or gestures. The non-social condition comprised a previously validated method where tokens represented “preferences” generated by weighted roulette wheels. Participants significantly shifted their choices when the influence (social or non-social) suggested a less risky choice. There were no group differences in risky decision-making when deciding for oneself compared to others. Interestingly, no differences in the effects of social and non-social influence were found between autistic and non-autistic adults. Considering previous evidence of social influence differences when using overtly social cues, we suggest that the removal of social cues in our paradigm led to comparable performance between the autistic and non-autistic groups. The current study paves the way for future studies investigating a confounding effect of social cues, which will lead to important insight for theories of social influence in autism.

scholarly journals PASIRENKAMO RIZIKOS LYGIO PASTOVUMAS ĮVAIRIOSE SPRENDIMŲ SITUACIJOSE

Psichologija ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
pp. 7-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Auksė Endriulaitienė ◽  
Vaclovas Martišius
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Prospect Theory ◽  
Risk Taking ◽  
Correlation Coefficients ◽  
Risk Level ◽  
Risky Decision ◽  
Risk Levels ◽  
Vilnius University ◽  
Social Scientific ◽  
The Impact

Kadangi gyvename didžiulio nerimo ir netikrumo laikais, pastaruoju metu socialinių mokslų atstovų domėjimasis rizika smarkiai padidėjo. Pagrindinė teorija, analizuojanti rizikingus sprendimus, yra D. Kahnemano ir A. Tversky?o sukurta prospektų teorija, kuri akcentuoja situacijos veiksnius, nulemiančius sprendimo rizikos lygį. Prieštaringi tyrimų rezultatai paskatino psichologus iškelti mintį, kad žmonės turi tam tikrą asmenybės savybę - polinkį rizikuoti. Šio tyrimo tikslas - nustatyti, ar yra įvairiose sprendimų situacijose pasirenkamo rizikos lygio, kuris gali būti asmenybės bruožo - polinkio rizikuoti rodiklis, ryšys. Tyrime dalyvavo 262 Vilniaus ir Vytauto Didžiojo universitetų studentai; jie pildė Pasirinkimo dilemų klausimyną bei Sprendimų priėmimo stiliaus skalę. Tyrimo rezultatai atskleidė, kad rizikos lygis, pasirenkamas įvairiose sprendimų situacijose, yra santykinai pastovus dydis ir gali būti susijęs su asmenybės bruožu - polinkiu rizikuoti. Taigi gauti tyrimo duomenys leidžia diskutuoti su tais psichologais, kurie ypač akcentuoja situacijos svarbą priimant rizikingus sprendimus ir nuvertina asmenybės bruožų įtaką žmogaus pasirinkimams. THE STABILITY OF RISK LEVEL ACROSS VARIOUS DECISION SITUATIONSAuksė Endriulaitienė, Vaclovas Martišius SummaryFew would dispute that we are living at a time of high anxiety and uncertainty. That's why in recent years, social scientific interest in risk has increased enormously. The main theory that explains human decision processes in the face of risk is Prospect theory of D. Kahneman and A. Tversky. It emphasizes the impact of situation upon human risk taking. The contradictory results from the investigations in the perspective of human trait theory give the challenge to the prospect theory and raise the assumption that people have the personality trait - propensity to risk that could explain at least the part of human risky decision making and risk taking behavior. The present investigation aims to find if the decision risk level is stable across various decision situations and could be the index of human propensity to risk. The subjects were 262 students from Vytautas Magnus University and Vilnius University in Lithuania; they completed Choice Dilemma Questionnaire (Kogan, Wallach, 1964) and The Scale of General Decision Making Style (Scott, Bruce, 1995). The results showed that correlation coefficients among risk levels in various decision situations were high and significant. So risk level was stable across the situations and could be related to the personality disposition - propensity to risk. The implications of results and limitations of the study were discussed.

084 Does Alignment between the Timing of Sleep and Circadian Rhythm Predict Behavioral Decision Making?

SLEEP ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 44 (Supplement_2) ◽  
pp. A35-A36
Author(s):  
Garrett Hisler ◽  
David Dickinson ◽  
Brant Hasler
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Circadian Rhythm ◽  
Risk Taking ◽  
Risky Decision Making ◽  
Risky Decision ◽  
Strategic Reasoning ◽  
Behavioral Decision Making ◽  
Behavioral Decision ◽  
Naturally Occurring ◽  
Reasoning Tasks

Abstract Introduction Cognitive performance and decision making have been shown to suffer under conditions of misalignment between circadian preference and time-of-assessment; however, little is known about how misalignment between the timing of sleep and circadian rhythm impacts decision making. To this end, this study captured naturally occurring degrees of alignment between the timing of sleep and the circadian rhythm (i.e., alignment of sleep-wake timing with circadian phase) to examine if greater misalignment predicts worse behavioral decision making. Methods Over the course of two weeks, 32 participants (18–22 years of age; 61% female; 69% White) continuously wore actigraphs and completed two overnight in-lab visits (Thursday and Sunday) in which both dim light melatonin onset (DLMO) and behavioral decision-making (risk taking, framing, and strategic reasoning tasks) were assessed. Sleep-wake timing was assessed by actigraphic midsleep from the two nights prior to each in-lab visit. Alignment was operationalized as the interval between DLMO and average midsleep. Multilevel modeling was used to predict performance on decision making tasks from circadian alignment during each in-lab visit; nonlinear associations were also examined. Results Misalignment characterized by shorter time between DLMO and midsleep predicted decision-making in a curvilinear fashion (i.e., squared misalignment term predicted performance). Specifically, shorter time between DLMO and midsleep predicted greater risk-taking under conditions of potential loss (B = .10, p = .04), but less risk-taking under conditions of potential reward (B = -.14, p = .04) in a curvilinear fashion. Misalignment did not predict decision-making in the framing and strategic reasoning tasks. Conclusion Findings suggest that naturally occurring degrees of misalignment between the timing of sleep and the circadian rhythm may impact risky decision-making, further extending accumulating evidence that sleep/circadian factors are tied to risk-taking preferences. Future studies will need to replicate findings and experimentally probe whether manipulating alignment influences risky decision making. Support (if any) R21AA023209; R01DA044143

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