BSS: The psychology of risk Flashcards
Risks are subjective
- What are 3 ways we can describe what a risk is?
1- A situation involving exposure to danger
2- Potential of losing something valuable
3- Behaviour harmful to health can be seen as risk-taking
Is it true that people take health risks due to a lack of education?
- NO
> People know the risk and what causes it but doesn’t change their decision
> Knowledge isn’t the only predictor of behaviour
What are the 4 influences of risky behaviour?
1- Cognitive factors
Individual traits, thinking style, perception
2- Biological factors
Neurotransmitters, genetics
3- Developmental factors
Maturation, evolutionary explanations
4- Social factors
Group processes
COGNITIVE FACTORS:
1- What personality type is health risk taking associated with/ not with?
2- What is the moderating factor to health risk taking?
1- WITH: extraversion, neuroticism + openess
NOT WITH: agreeableness + conscientiousness
2- Age
What are the 2 thinking styles?
(Sytem 1 + System 2)
System 1 (intuitive)
Automated mode of thinking with no conscious effort
Based on experience, gut feelings
Happens in routine, time constrained situations
Prone to error ( necessary when uncertain + safer )
System 2 (analytical)
Deliberate, rational, logical judgement
Processing of information from past learning & experience
Slower, significant cognitive effort
Less prone to error (not fool proof.. can pick up distracting cues)
What is essential to ensure we do not develop faulty thinking?
- Feedback/reflection on our experiences.
1- How does mood congruence affect how we perceive risks?
Negative state…
Positive state…
Fear…
Anger/Hapiness…
2- How does Unrealistic optimism affect how we perceive risks?
3- How do Individual differences affect how we perceive risks?
1-
Negative state → negative events perceived as more likely
Positive state → more optimistic
Fear overestimates risk
Anger & happiness underestimates risk (appraise risk as being under control)
2- belief that lower chance of experiencing a negative than positive event, so less likely to engage in health behaviour change
3- People think differently of what constitutes a risk and what is ‘normal
Explain the 5 following forms of cognitive bias.
- Availability bias
- Framing effects
- Base rate neglect
- Dunning-Kruger effect
- Gamblers fallacy
1- Availability bias: relying on more available info which is more frequently/recently presented
2- Framing effects: Drawing conclusions from data depending on how it is presented.
3- Base rate neglect: Ignoring general/baseline info in favour of something more specific
4- Dunning-Kruger effect: unskilled individuals overestimate own ability whereas experts underestimate their ability
5- Gamblers fallacy: thinking future probabilities are affected by past events
BIOLOGICAL FACTORS:
How do neurotransmitters increase health risk taking?
> What pathway is dopamine released in the brain?
Dopamine
- Responsible for ‘high’ when doing something risky
- Risk takers may have less dopamine-inhibiting receptors (or be more sensitive to dopamine)
> Dopamine released in mesolimbic pathway (ventral tegmental – nucleus accumbens of basal ganglia – limbic system)
BIOLOGICAL FACTORS
How does genetics increase health taking risks?
>There is a positive correlation between risk-taking behaviour and…
- Identified 10 independent loci for risk-taking behavior
- 2 further sex-specific risk-taking loci
> Consistency across ethnicities
> Positive correlation between risk-taking behaviour & several psychiatric disorders
DEVELOPMENTAL FACTORS:
Why are children more likely to carry out risky health behaviours?
- Evolutionary value.. exposure to risks = better development
- Children unlikely to understand full implications of risk before the formal operational stage
> But children aged 6-7 experience regret & relief about decision outcomes
SOCIAL FACTORS:
How does the social identity theory explain why we take risks?
> Name the 3 processes involved in this
-Social groups give us pride, self-esteem & sense of belonging
1- Social categorisation
2- Social identification
3- Social comparison
What is social categorisation?
- All categories have a ‘prototype’
Social group leaders likely to be the ‘prototype’
Group members aim to align with leaders so they feel an integral member
Can depersonalise – seen as a group member rather than individual (stereotype)
Give 5 characteristics of a group leader?
1- Embody prototype, focus of conformity within group
2- Liked by members as they embody the prototype & so gain compliance with wishes which increases their status
3- Identify more strongly with group than others & so behave in more group-oriented & group-serving ways
4- Behaviors generate trust from members, leader can be innovative taking group in new directions
5- Prototypical members are focus of attention as felt to be best source of information about group norms
What is social identity?
Adopt the identity of our in-group
> Develops an emotional significance & our self-esteem becomes entangled with that group membership
In-group norms have significant potential to actually influence our behavior
