Risk perception, risk acceptance, and dispositional optimism

• Authors: Sokolowska J. , Klonowicz T.
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

A quasi-experimental study was designed to examine, whether (1) perceived risk is a function of the relative frequency of bad to good outcomes and (2) individual differences in dispositional optimism influence risk perception and risk acceptance. A total of 263 undergraduate students of psychology (189 women and 74 men) participated in the study. Subgroups of high- and low optimism selected on the basis of their optimism scores were presented with 28 multi-outcome gambles and asked to rate risk separately for each gamble and next indicate, whether they would play a given gamble or not. The data indicate that: (1) risk judgments depend on the ratio of bad to good outcomes in the outcomes' distribution, (2) high- and low optimists did not differ with respect to average risk rates but in more optimistic persons decision making would be associated with more trade-offs.

Keywords

EN

DISPOSITIONAL OPTIMISM; RISK ACCEPTANCE; RISK PERCEPTION

Discipline

• PSYCHOLOGY: PSYCHOLOGY

• Publisher: Committee for Psychological Sciences, Polish Academy of Sciences
• Journal: Polish Psychological Bulletin
• Year: 2004
• Volume: 35
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 55-63
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Sokolowska J.

author

Klonowicz T.

• J. Sokolowska, Instytut Psychologii PAN, ul. Chodakowska 19/31, 03-815 Warszawa, Poland

Identifiers

CEJSH db identifier

06PLAAAA01753781