RISK TAKING IN PSYCHOMOTOR AND COGNITIVE TASKS AS A FUNCTION OF PROBABILITY OF LOSS, SKILL AND OTHER PERSON-RELATED VARIABLES --ROAD USER BEHAVIOR. THEORY AND RESEARCH. PAPERS PRESENTED AT THE 2ND INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ROAD SAFETY HELD IN GRONINGEN, NETHERLANDS, AUGUST 1987

This paper summarizes procedures and results in a dozen investigations conducted with many student-experimenters, and designed to generate a clear operational distinction between skill and risk-taking tendency, as well as to generate quantitative measures of individual differences in both. In order to allow the experimenter to control the actual probability of loss associated with particular responses, the experiments were conducted in the laboratory rather than in the field. However, in contrast to the great majority of laboratory experiments on decision making reported in the literature, subjects were given immediate feedback on each of their responses and they did incur real risk, either financially or in terms of social esteem. All experiments were tests of what may be called "brinkmanship": the closer the subject's responses approached a criterion value ("the brink") on the safe side, the greater their certain gains, while penalties for responses on the risky side were probabilistic in nature and controlled by the experimenter. Subjects were fully informed of all contingencies on either side of the brink. This procedure allowed the categorization of responses and subjects AS Either risk-loving, risk-neutral or risk-averse. The extent of the risk-loving state of a subject was quantified in terms of the degree to which his/her distribution of responses deviated on the risky side from optimality (risk-neutrality), given his/her level of skill. Similarly, a quantitative measure of risk aversion consisted of the degree to which the subject erred on the safe side of the optimum, i.e. Where net benefits would have maximized within the limits of the subject's skill. In order to test expectations derived from the theory of risk homeostasis, the data were inspected on variations in risk-loving risk-aversion states under different experimentally manipulated levels of potential loss, as well as in relation to different levels of individual proficiency in the psychomotor and cognitive skills considered.(a) for the covering abstract of the conference see IRRD 815404.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/isbn/9023223691
• Corporate Authors:

  Van Ggorcum & Comp BV

  P.O. Box 43
  Assen,   Netherlands 
• Authors:
  • WILDE, GJS
• Publication Date: 1988

Language

• English

Media Info

• Pagination: p. 120-6
• Serial:
  • Publication of: VAN GORCUM & COMP BV
  • Publisher: Van Ggorcum & Comp BV

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Attitudes; Behavior; Conferences; Decision making; Driver experience; Drivers; Driving; Hazards; Knowledge; Motor skills; Penalties; Probability; Risk taking; Test procedures; Theory
• Geographic Terms: Netherlands
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Law; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00481942
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Transport and Road Research Laboratory (TRRL)
• ISBN: 90-232-2369-1
• Files: ITRD, TRIS
• Created Date: Apr 30 1989 12:00AM