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        Choice Under Risk: How Occupation Influences Preferences

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        fpsyg_10_02003_choice_under_risk_.pdf (PDF, 1Mb)
        Author
        Hill, Tetiana
        Kusev, P.
        van Schaik , P.
        Attention
        2299/21905
        Abstract
        In the last decade, a number of studies in the behavioral sciences, particularly in psychology and economics, have explored the complexity of individual risk behavior and its underlying factors. Most previous studies have examined the influences of various socio-economic, cognitive, biological and psychological factors on human decision-making, however, the relationship between the decision-makers’ risk preferences and occupational background has not received much empirical attention. Accordingly, in the current study, we investigated how occupational background, together with decision-making framing (e.g., variations in decision domain, context, presentation of risk, and utility ratios), influence participants’ risk preferences for decision options with equivalent expected utility. Our novel findings indicate that risk preferences may vary among individuals from different occupational backgrounds. As such, when the task was framed in gain terms, participants who mostly deal with health/safety-related risks on a day-to-day basis (high-risk occupations) were predominantly risk-averse (avoiding risky options), while participants who mostly deal with financial/social risks (white-collar occupations) were prone to risk-seeking behavior (avoiding certain options). Specifically, in “high-risk” occupations, participants’ pattern of choices changed from risk-averse in gain scenarios to risk-seeking in loss scenarios. However, the opposite pattern of risk preferences was found in participants with “white-collar” occupations. Our findings indicate that decision-makers’ occupational backgrounds influence risk preferences under some circumstances.
        Publication date
        2019-08-30
        Published in
        Frontiers in Psychology
        Published version
        https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02003
        Other links
        http://hdl.handle.net/2299/21905
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