scholarly journals The Assessment of Physical Risk Taking: Construct Validation of a New Behavioral Measure

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward Smith ◽  
Stephen D Benning

Risk taking is a complex heterogeneous construct that has proven difficult to assess, especially when using behavioral tasks. We present a new measure – the Assessment of Physical Risk Taking (APRT) – as a comprehensive assessment of the probability of success and failure, and magnitude of reward and punishment of different types of physically risky behaviors with a variety of outcome scores. Participants (N = 224) completed APRT in a laboratory setting, half of whom had a 1.5 s delay interposed between button presses. Main effects, two-way interactions among five within-subject factors, and interactions between the within-subject factors and Delay were estimated for four APRT outcome scores using Generalized Estimating Equations. Results indicated that Injury Magnitude and Injury Probability exerted much stronger effects than the other factors. APRT scores correlated with self-reported risk taking in thrilling activities specifically, but only for those who did not have a delay between APRT responses.

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (10) ◽  
pp. e0258826
Author(s):  
Edward A. Smith ◽  
Stephen D. Benning

Risk taking is a complex heterogeneous construct that has proven difficult to assess, especially when using behavioral tasks. We present an exploratory investigation of new measure–the Assessment of Physical Risk Taking (APRT). APRT produces a variety of different outcome scores and is designed as a comprehensive assessment of the probability of success and failure, and magnitude of reward and punishment of different types of simulated physically risky behaviors. Effects observed on the simulated behaviors are hypothesized to reflect similar effects on real world physical risks. Participants (N = 224) completed APRT in a laboratory setting, half of whom had a 1.5 s delay interposed between button presses. Exploratory analyses utilizing generalized estimating equations examined the main effects and two-way interactions among five within-subject factors, as well as two-way interactions between the within-subject factors and Delay across four APRT outcome scores. Results indicated that Injury Magnitude and Injury Probability exerted stronger effects than any of the other independent variables. Participants also completed several self-report measures of risk taking and associated constructs (e.g., sensation seeking), which were correlated with APRT scores to assess the preliminary convergent and divergent validity of the new measure. After correcting for multiple comparisons, APRT scores correlated with self-reported risk taking in thrilling, physically dangerous activities specifically, but only for those who did not have a delay between APRT responses. This promising exploratory investigation highlights the need for future studies comparing APRT to other behavioral risk taking tasks, examining the robustness of the observed APRT effects, and investigating how APRT may predict real-world physical risk taking.


2010 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 439-452 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc T. Swogger ◽  
Zach Walsh ◽  
C.W. Lejuez ◽  
David S. Kosson

Several clinical descriptions of psychopathy suggest a link to risk taking, but the empirical basis for this association is not well established. Moreover, it is not clear whether any association between psychopathy and risk taking is specific to psychopathy or reflects shared variance with other externalizing disorders, such as antisocial personality disorder, alcohol use disorders, and drug use disorders. The present study aimed to clarify relationships between psychopathy and risky behavior among male county jail inmates using both self-reports of real-world risky behaviors and performance on the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART), a behavioral measure of risk taking. Findings suggest that associations between externalizing disorders and self-reported risk taking largely reflect shared mechanisms. However, psychopathy appears to account for unique variance in self-reported irresponsible and criminal risk taking beyond that associated with other externalizing disorders. By contrast, none of the disorders was associated with risk-taking behavior on the BART, potentially indicating limited clinical utility for the BART in differentiating members of adult offender populations.


2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sydney Chinchanachokchai ◽  
Theeranuch Pusaksrikit ◽  
Siwarit Pongsakornrungsilp

Superstitions are common phenomena in human society, especially in Asian cultures. Superstitious beliefs can have a negative impact on the social well-being of people in society because they are highly associated with financial risk-taking and gambling behaviors. This study looks at the effects of different types of superstitious belief (proactive vs. passive) on consumers’ risk-taking behaviors. Categorized based on the characteristics associated with an illusion of control in a situation, proactive and passive superstitious beliefs were found to show differences in risk-taking behaviors. The results demonstrate that passive superstitious beliefs increase the likelihood of engaging in risky behaviors when a superstitious object is introduced. The research suggests social marketing and public policy implications.


2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
João F. Guassi Moreira ◽  
Eva H. Telzer

We tested two competing predictions of whether changes in parent–child relationship quality buffer or exacerbate the association between sensation-seeking and risk-taking behaviors as individuals gain more independence during the high school–college transition. In the current longitudinal study, 287 participants completed self-report measures of sensation seeking, risk-taking, and parent–child relationship quality with their parents prior to starting college and again during their first semester. Overall, students displayed increases in risky behaviors, which were predicted by sensation seeking. Changes in relationship quality moderated the association between sensation seeking and risk-taking, such that sensation seeking predicted higher risk-taking behaviors during the first semester of college, but only for those who reported increases in relationship quality across the college transition. These results suggest that increased relationship quality may have an inadvertent spillover effect by interacting with sensation seeking to increase risky behaviors.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica Daphne Ayers ◽  
Diego Guevara Beltran ◽  
Andrew Van Horn ◽  
Lee Cronk ◽  
Hector Hurmuz-Sklias ◽  
...  

Given the importance of friendships during challenging times and the mixed associations reported between personality traits and disease-related behaviors, we investigated the influence of personality traits on friendships during the COVID-19 pandemic and how both influenced risky behaviors. In November 2020, we asked participants about their reactions to friends’ behavior as part of a larger study. We found that agreeableness and neuroticism predicted participants being more concerned about COVID-19 and bothered by friends’ risky behavior, and extraversion predicted enjoying helping friends during the pandemic. Our results suggest that personality influences how individuals cope with their friends’ risky behaviors. This work could be relevant for developing interventions to reduce risk taking during the pandemic, such as using friendships to reinforce adherence to public health guidelines.


2021 ◽  
pp. 107769902110494
Author(s):  
Sangwon Lee ◽  
Masahiro Yamamoto ◽  
Edson C. Tandoc

This study explores the effects of traditional media and social media on different types of knowledge about COVID-19. We also explore how surveillance motivation moderates the relationship between media use and different types of knowledge. Based on cross-national data from Singapore and the United States, we find that news seeking via social media is negatively related to factual knowledge and positively related to subjective knowledge and knowledge miscalibration. News seeking via traditional media is not significantly related to factual knowledge. Although the main effects are highly consistent across the two countries, we find some different interaction patterns across these countries.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tamika Zapolski ◽  
MacKenzie Whitener ◽  
Shirin Khazvand ◽  
Queenisha Crichlow ◽  
Rebecca Revilla ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND Adolescence is a developmental period marked by engaging in risk-taking behaviors, with higher risk among youth who are impulsive or emotionally dysregulated. Thus, interventions that teach skills to reduce the risk for negative outcomes as a consequence of dysregulation are needed. Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) programs have been developed to address both adolescent emotion dysregulation and risk-taking behaviors. However, current programs have mostly been implemented among younger youth and have rarely been empirically evaluated for their effectiveness among high school students. OBJECTIVE The primary outcomes of the study are to test whether participating in the skills group intervention produces significant increases in the core DBT-A skills of mindfulness, emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and interpersonal effectiveness while also producing significant decreases in substance use and risky behaviors. These primary outcomes are based on changes in participant scores between baseline and post-intervention, as well as follow-ups at 1, 3, and 6 months in comparison to a control group of youth who are participating in the school’s health curriculum at the same time points. A secondary objective of this study is to also examine the acceptability, facilitators and barriers of the intervention through qualitative interviews with intervention participants and school staff. The current paper describes the protocol of the 9 session school-based adaptation of the DBT-A intervention and discussion of the strengths and limitations of the study, as well as future directions. METHODS N/A RESULTS N/A CONCLUSIONS N/A


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ming Gong ◽  
Feihu Xu ◽  
Zheng-Da Li ◽  
Zizhu Wang ◽  
Yu-Zhe Zhang ◽  
...  

AbstractQuantum resetting protocols allow a quantum system to be sent to a state in the past by making it interact with quantum probes when neither the free evolution of the system nor the interaction is controlled. We experimentally verify the simplest non-trivial case of a quantum resetting protocol, known as the $${{\mathcal{W}}}_{4}$$ W 4 protocol, with five superconducting qubits, testing it with different types of free evolutions and target–probe interactions. After projection, we obtained a reset state fidelity as high as 0.951, and the process fidelity was found to be 0.792. We also implemented 100 randomly chosen interactions and demonstrated an average success probability of 0.323 for $$\left|1\right\rangle$$ 1 and 0.292 for $$\left|-\right\rangle$$ − , and experimentally confirmed the nonzero probability of success for unknown interactions; the numerical simulated values are about 0.3. Our experiment shows that the simplest quantum resetting protocol can be implemented with current technologies, making such protocols a valuable tool in the eternal fight against unwanted evolution in quantum systems.


2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (5) ◽  
pp. 13-15

Purpose This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies. Design/methodology/approach This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context. Findings This research paper concentrates on the impact of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) on strategic choices when entering a foreign market. On balance the results reveal that combining all three EO trait dimensions – innovativeness, risk taking, and proactiveness – creates the best probability of success when entering a product into a new foreign market by deploying either an explorative or an exploitative product marketing strategy. Although a riskier explorative strategy is the most promising option for building longer-term competitive advantage, blending this with elements of a more conservative but growth-lacking exploitative strategy can yield synergistic benefits. Originality/value The briefing saves busy executives, strategists and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.


1982 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 855-860 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard T. Ettenson ◽  
Richard C. Coughlin

32 subjects were presented 4 items involving decisions either to take a certain amount of money or select a probability level for winning a larger amount. In a 2 × 2 design, subjects either made these decisions hypothetically or actually played out their choices for money. For half of each group, the items described a fixed payoff regardless of the probability level selected, while for the other half there were variable payoffs where the amount won increased as the probability of success decreased. Data indicated that subjects were more conservative when playing for real money with a fixed payoff but not when there was a variable payoff. These results suggest that the presence of conservatism in real risk-taking situations may be a function of the type of payoff.


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