Imagining risk taking

The valence of mental imagery is related to the declared willingness to take risky actions

Dados Bibliográficos

ID12166451
AutoresJoanna Smieja (0000-0002-1963-1262, Center for Research in Economic Behavior (CREB) SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities Wroclaw Poland), Tomasz Zaleskiewicz (0000-0002-4232-6151, Center for Research in Economic Behavior (CREB) SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities Wroclaw Poland, autor correspondente), Agata Sobkow (0000-0002-5357-744X, The Center for Research on Improving Decision Making (CRIDM) SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities Wroclaw Poland), Jakub Traczyk (0000-0001-9145-1998, The Center for Research on Improving Decision Making (CRIDM) SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities Wroclaw Poland)
Ano2023
Volume36
Fascículo4
Data de publicação2023-07-07
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal of Behavioral Decision Making (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0894-3257 • E-ISSN: 1099-0771
EditoraWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/bdm.2340
OpenAlexW4383501035
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas2
Referências citadas73

The aim of the present research was to investigate the involvement of mental imagery in people's choices under risk. We tested the general idea that decision makers can use visual mental images (visual mental simulations) to pre‐experience how rewarding or threatening future outcomes of risky behavior will be and try out the potential consequences of their risky activities. The paper reports the results of three preregistered studies (including one experiment) showing that the valence of mental imagery is related to the willingness to take risky actions and that people spontaneously use mental imagery as an informative decision input. In Study 1, we found that the more positive mental images people produced when faced with risk, the more willing they were to take risky actions representing different risk domains. Study 2 extended the results of Study 1, indicating that the valence of mental imagery has a causal effect on participants' risk taking willingness. Qualitative analysis based on independent judges' evaluations conducted in Studies 1 and 2 documented that, when requested, participants could easily generate visual mental images illustrating the consequences of their risky choices. Finally, with Study 3, we found that participants declared using mental imagery as a decision input (i.e., a source of information that helps them make choices) even when they were not instructed to do so. However, the frequency of reporting images as decision inputs differed across risky activities

Cognition · Cognitive psychology · Mental image · Psychiatry · Valence (chemistry · Decision-Making and Behavioral Economics · Psychology · Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment · Risk Perception and Management · Social Psychology