Motivating Risky Choices Increases Risk Taking

Motivating Risky Choices Increases Risk Taking | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Motivating Risky Choices Increases Risk Taking Ennio Bilancini, Leonardo Boncinelli, Lorenzo Spadoni This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-145749/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract We study the impact of the mode of cognition on risk taking. In an online experiment we ask participants to make a simple decision involving risk. In the control group no manipulation is made, while in the treatment group we exogenously manipulate the mode of cognition by requiring subjects to write down a text that motivates their risky choice before any action is actually taken. Such motivation treatment is meant to induce more reflection upon the action to be taken. Our results show an effect of the motivation treatment on risk taking, suggesting that higher reflection makes subjects more prone to risk taking. The effect is stronger if we consider only subjects who imperfectly understand the probability distribution implied by the simple choice task. Based on our experimental findings, we suggest that reflection and comprehension might be substitutes when individuals make decisions involving risk. Psychology Health Economics & Outcomes Research cognition risk experimental Figures Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Full Text Supplementary Files bibospSI.pdf Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-145749","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":8580391,"identity":"d3483ef8-8200-47c8-af1f-6645bef4cef1","order_by":0,"name":"Ennio Bilancini","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca","correspondingAuthor":false,"submittingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Ennio","middleName":"","lastName":"Bilancini","suffix":""},{"id":8580392,"identity":"80e9ddc9-edf2-4317-b379-de33d5f2293a","order_by":1,"name":"Leonardo Boncinelli","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAABC0lEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBACPgjFzMAgAaINgCLsjI0PgFx+NgbGBmxa2DC0sDEzNgMpCck2BsZGbHrQtIBEmBnYQGxJoHKs1rCxNx978HOPtRyDNJDxo+COHBszc1s17w4LCT4G5vYH2LTwHEs37HmWbswgA2IYPDMGOqztNu8ZCQk2XA6TyDGT4DlwOLEByJBmMDic2AbW0iZRh1OL/BszyT9IWupBWoqBWvDYwmMmjWxLAshhzHi18KSlScscSDdmkzmWJtljcNgQaEuz5FyQFmbGxhlYtPCzHz4m+eaAtRw/MMQkfvw5LM/P3v7ww9u2Ogn59vYHH7BoQViHKcSMT/0oGAWjYBSMAnwAALdxUYM8NTeXAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"","institution":"University of Florence","correspondingAuthor":true,"submittingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Leonardo","middleName":"","lastName":"Boncinelli","suffix":""},{"id":8580393,"identity":"c7284ede-a793-4754-8381-61e4e021e47b","order_by":2,"name":"Lorenzo Spadoni","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"LUISS Guido Carli Free International University for Social Studies","correspondingAuthor":false,"submittingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Lorenzo","middleName":"","lastName":"Spadoni","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2021-01-12 10:44:10","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-145749/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-145749/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":5159701,"identity":"3e4c8c7a-42d4-49a2-90db-830b40b0456e","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2021-01-21 17:06:11","extension":"jpg","order_by":1,"title":"Figure 1","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":33054,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Number of boxes opened in the control group and treatment groups. The treatment effectively increases the number of boxes opened by about 10% (from 39.6 to 44 boxes; statistics reported for Mann-Whitney tests of equal distributions).","description":"","filename":"Fig1.jpg","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-145749/v1/c110845524056a12e0b97e7c.jpg"},{"id":5159642,"identity":"c957f764-06d5-4c81-af9e-74e257df9ecd","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2021-01-21 17:03:11","extension":"jpg","order_by":2,"title":"Figure 2","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":31936,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Number of boxes opened by the experimental subjects splitted in the group of those who gave a wrong answer to the comprehension question regarding the probabilities involved in the BRET (left bar) and in the group of those who gave a correct answer (right bar). No appreciable difference is found between the two groups (statistics reported for Mann-Whitney tests of equal distributions).","description":"","filename":"Fig2.jpg","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-145749/v1/9f386a812336dd3760de8c3d.jpg"},{"id":5159643,"identity":"645fd099-a15e-4d2e-badb-9f1371c60d98","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2021-01-21 17:03:11","extension":"jpg","order_by":3,"title":"Figure 3","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":44983,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Left chart. Number of boxes opened in the control and treatment groups, splitting experimental subjects in the group of those who gave a wrong answer to the comprehension question regarding the probabilities involved in the BRET (left bar) and in the group of those who gave a correct answer (right bar).\nNo appreciable difference is found between the two groups for the treatment group, while in the control group\nwe find that more boxes are opened by those who answered correctly to the comprehension question (statistics\nreported for Mann-Whitney tests of equal distributions). Right chart. Number of boxes opened by experimental subjects split in the group of those who gave a wrong answer to the comprehension question regarding the probabilities involved in the BRET (left bar) and in the group of those who gave a correct answer (right bar), further divided by control and treatment groups. No appreciable treatment effect is found for the group of those who answered correctly to comprehension question, while a strong treatment effect is found (from 34.5 to 45.7 boxes) for those who answered wrongly (statistics reported for Mann-Whitney tests\nof equal distributions).","description":"","filename":"Fig3.jpg","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-145749/v1/eb48081ae7133a79b8ee7e05.jpg"},{"id":13577653,"identity":"38b775e3-1eca-4c64-bf30-4440a19af0f8","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2021-09-17 04:12:27","extension":"pdf","order_by":0,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":392560,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"bibosp.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-145749/v1_covered.pdf"},{"id":5159816,"identity":"29ed4f9f-6a15-49ac-8600-af52ebf7bced","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2021-01-21 17:09:15","extension":"pdf","order_by":0,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":314849,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"bibosp.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-145749/v1_stamped.pdf"},{"id":5159645,"identity":"c64d1c8d-1f86-4b16-a930-458e859bee9a","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2021-01-21 17:03:11","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":363465,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"bibospSI.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-145749/v1/0b29c99614f2fc71bb89d159.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"","formattedTitle":"Motivating Risky Choices Increases Risk Taking","fulltext":[{"header":"Full Text","content":"\u003cp\u003eThis preprint is available for \u003ca href='/article/rs-145749/latest.pdf' target='_blank'\u003edownload as a PDF\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e"}],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":false,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"cognition, risk, experimental","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-145749/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-145749/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"We study the impact of the mode of cognition on risk taking. In an online experiment we ask participants to make a simple decision involving risk. In the control group no manipulation is made, while in the treatment group we exogenously manipulate the mode of cognition by requiring subjects to write down a text that motivates their risky choice before any action is actually taken. Such motivation treatment is meant to induce more reflection upon the action to be taken. Our results show an effect of the motivation treatment on risk taking, suggesting that higher reflection makes subjects more prone to risk taking. The effect is stronger if we consider only subjects who imperfectly understand the probability distribution implied by the simple choice task. Based on our experimental findings, we suggest that reflection and comprehension might be substitutes when individuals make decisions involving risk. 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