Simulating murder: the aversion to harmful action

Diverse lines of evidence point to a basic human aversion to physically harming others. First, we demonstrate that unwillingness to endorse harm in a moral dilemma is predicted by individual differences in aversive reactivity, as indexed by peripheral vasoconstriction. Next, we tested the specific factors that elicit the aversive response to harm. Participants performed actions such as discharging a fake gun into the face of the experimenter, fully informed that the actions were pretend and harmless. These simulated harmful actions increased peripheral vasoconstriction significantly more than did witnessing pretend harmful actions or to performing metabolically matched nonharmful actions. This suggests that the aversion to harmful actions extends beyond empathic concern for victim harm. Together, these studies demonstrate a link between the body and moral decision-making processes.     

Loss aversion and perceptual risk aversion

We prove that, in cumulative prospect theory, the weak loss aversion for S-shaped value functions is equivalent to a notion of risk aversion that we define from the perceptual point of view. No additional assumption or condition on the probability distortion is needed. It is demonstrated that a power S-shaped value function does not satisfy weak loss aversion, i.e., a decision maker is risk seeking with respect to some mixed sign lotteries.     

Interoceptive ability predicts aversion to losses

Emotions have been proposed to inform risky decision-making through the influence of affective physiological responses on subjective value. The ability to perceive internal body states, or “interoception” may influence this relationship. Here, we examined whether interoception predicts participants' degree of loss aversion, which has been previously linked to choice-related arousal responses. Participants performed both a heartbeat-detection task indexing interoception and a risky monetary decision-making task, from which loss aversion, risk attitudes and choice consistency were parametrically measured. Interoceptive ability correlated selectively with loss aversion and was unrelated to the other value parameters. This finding suggests that specific and separable component processes underlying valuation are shaped not only by our physiological responses, as shown in previous findings, but also by our interoceptive access to such signals.     

Sensitivity of the brain to loss aversion during risky gambles

Little is known about the neural systems that subserve human loss aversion. A recent neuroimaging study by Tom, Poldrack and colleagues reports that this pattern of behaviour is directly tied to the greater sensitivity of the brain to potential losses compared with potential gains and uncovers a brain network whose activity increases with potential gains and decreases with potential losses. These results challenge the common view that loss aversion engages a distinct emotion-related brain network (e.g. amygdala and insula).     

Note on aversion learning to the shape of food by monkeys

Vervet and grivet monkeys were repeatedly tested eating bar- and circle-shaped cookies. One subject was always injected with lithium immediately after eating cookies with the circle shape and learned to avoid the circular cookies while continuing to eat the bar-shaped cookies. Another subject received similar treatment except that lithium injections were always delayed 30 minutes after access to the circle-shaped cookies. She also acquired a discriminative aversion. Aversion learning was not observed with 60-minute delayed toxicosis or with lithium injections administered unpaired with access to the cookies. The two types of cookies differed only in shape, and conditioning and test sessions were conducted in total darkness to preclude the use of visual cues. Therefore, the avoidance observed in subjects conditioned with immediate and 30-minute delayed toxicosis represents a conditioned aversion to the shape of the cookies as revealed by tactile cues. These findings illustrate that monkeys can learn to select food on the basis of tactile stimuli when such stimuli are conditioned with delayed aversive stimulation.     

Measuring human aversion to sound without verbal descriptors

High school students tapped rapidly on a telegraph key to reduce the intensity of a continuous acoustic stimulus presented through earphones. Failure to respond resulted in an intensity increase of 1 dB every 4 sec. In Experiment 1, a group of 19 students responded to three pure tones (125, 1,000, and 8,000 Hz) and a white noise. The different asymptotic levels observed after 4 min were taken as a measure of equal aversion levels for the stimuli. In Experiment 2, the effect of the starting intensity level (45, 70, and 90 dB SPL) was determined for a 1,000-Hz tone. Differences in the asymptotic intensity levels observed after 6 rain were not significant. In Experiment 3, no significant effect was found upon varying the number of responses required to produce a 1-dB intensity decrement in a 1,000-Hz tone. Together, the experiments demonstrated the feasibility of determining equal-aversion levels for sounds.     

Imitation of emotion: When meaning leads to aversion

Can imitation lead to less liking? Previous research on mimicry and imitation suggests that imitation should lead to more liking, at least when it concerns neutral behaviours. In the present studies, we looked at behaviour with a clear message: Facial expressions. As predicted, we found in two studies that an affiliative facial expression (happiness) leads to more liking when imitated, whereas a non‐affiliative facial expression (anger) leads to less liking when imitated. Thus, imitating someone does not always lead to more liking: Imitating behaviour that communicates an unfriendly message can have negative consequences. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The ability to process emotional information predicts loss aversion

On the basis of previous research it was hypothesized that alexithymia is associated with a higher tolerance for losses. This hypothesis is extended to explore whether the putative link between loss aversion and alexithymia remains once traits associated with risk taking (sensation seeking) and broad based personality traits (the Big 5) are controlled. Participants (N = 260) completed indices of alexithymia, sensation seeking and the Big 5 and both a riskless (endowment effect) and risky (lottery task) measure of loss aversion. It was found that the higher the alexithymia score the lower the loss aversion for both riskless and risky decisions even when sex, sensation seeking and the Big 5 are taken into account. The implications for this finding are discussed in the light of a neurological explanation of the relationship between alexithymia and loss aversion.     

Power and loss aversion

Four experiments tested the prediction that power reduces loss aversion by increasing the anticipated value of gains and shrinking the negative anticipated value of losses. Experiment 1 provided initial support for the prediction that those in power are less loss averse by replicating a classic paradigm of loss aversion in riskless choice and demonstrating moderation by power. Experiments 2 and 3 expanded on this finding by breaking apart the components of loss aversion to determine how power may reduce it: via gains, losses, or both. Across two scenarios and two different measures of anticipated value, power reduced the anticipated threat associated with a loss. However, the prediction that power increases the anticipated value of gains was not supported. Finally, Experiment 4 replicated the results of Experiments 2 and 3 in the context of a choice with real consequences for the participants. Implications of these findings are discussed.     

Low- and high-testosterone individuals exhibit decreased aversion to economic risk

Testosterone is positively associated with risk-taking behavior in social domains (e.g., crime, physical aggression). However, the scant research linking testosterone to economic risk preferences presents inconsistent findings. We examined the relationship between endogenous testosterone and individuals' economic preferences (i.e., risk preference, ambiguity preference, and loss aversion) in a large sample (N = 298) of men and women. We found that endogenous testosterone levels have a significant U-shaped association with individuals' risk and ambiguity preferences, but not loss aversion. Specifically, individuals with low or high levels of testosterone (more than 1.5 SD from the mean for their gender) were risk and ambiguity neutral, whereas individuals with intermediate levels of testosterone were risk and ambiguity averse. This relationship was highly similar in men and women. In contrast to received wisdom regarding testosterone and risk, the present data provide the first robust evidence for a nonlinear association between economic preferences and levels of endogenous testosterone.     

From brand aversion or indifference to brand attachment: Authors' response to commentaries to Park,Eisingerich, and Park's brand attachment–aversion model

The primary purpose of our target article was to theoretically argue and empirically demonstrate that it is possible to elevate the customer–brand relationships to the desired level of human relationships by offering three types of self-relevant benefits. In this response, we discuss the major comments provided by each set of commentators, which are insightful and thought-provoking. It is our hope that this dialogue will open up a new avenue for future research regarding the nature and management of customer–brand relationships.     

When less is more: Consumer aversion to unused utility

A series of experiments demonstrates that consumers exhibit aversion to waste during forward-looking purchase. These experiments further reveal that such behavior is driven by distaste for unused utility, a reaction that is shown to be distinct from an aversion to squandering money. Waste aversion is especially pronounced when consumers anticipate future consequences and deprivation is salient. In addition to demonstrating robustness across consumers and marketing contexts, the results also demonstrate how waste aversion can lead to self-defeating behavior in which consumers forego desired utility. Finally, the present research demonstrates and discusses the implications of waste aversion for a variety of marketing issues, including buy-rent markets, bundling, and the fundamental distinction between goods and services.     

Reducing aversion to side effects in preventive medical treatment decisions

Laypeople tend to be overly sensitive to side effects of treatments that prevent illness, possibly leading them to refuse beneficial therapies. This Internet-based study attempted to reduce such side effect aversion by adding graphic displays to the numerical risk probabilities. It also explored whether graphics reduce side effect aversion by making it easier for respondents to determine how the treatment might change their net cancer risk. Participants (N=4,248) were presented with a hypothetical preventive treatment situation that was or was not accompanied by a small side effect. In both conditions, the net absolute risk reduction was 12%. Adding an array of stick figures to risk probabilities reduced side effect aversion substantially, but adding a bar graph was not beneficial. The ability of arrays to reduce side effect aversion was not attributable to greater accuracy in evaluating the treatment's net benefit.     

RSK2 signaling in brain habenula contributes to place aversion learning

RSK2 is a Ser/Thr kinase acting in the Ras/MAPK pathway. Rsk2 gene deficiency leads to the Coffin-Lowry Syndrome, notably characterized by cognitive deficits. We found that mrsk2 knockout mice are unable to associate an aversive stimulus with context in a lithium-induced conditioned place aversion task requiring both high-order cognition and emotional processing. Virally mediated shRNA-RSK2 knockdown in the habenula, whose involvement in cognition is receiving increasing attention, also ablated contextual conditioning. RSK2 signaling in the habenula, therefore, is essential for this task. Our study reveals a novel role for RSK2 in cognitive processes and uncovers the critical implication of an intriguing brain structure in place aversion learning.     

Uncertainty is associated with biased expectancies and heightened responses to aversion

Uncertainty is an omnipresent force in peoples' lives that has been shown to amplify the negative impact of aversive events. This amplified aversiveness, together with the negative attitudes that individuals can have toward uncertainty, suggests that a cue indicating uncertainty about future events might be associated with biased expectancies of negative outcomes or biased contingency estimates, similar to biases that have been observed for traditional fear-relevant cues, such as snakes or spiders. Participants in this study saw three different cues: one that indicated with certainty that an aversive picture would follow, one that indicated with certainty that a neutral picture would follow, and one that indicated uncertainty about whether an aversive or neutral picture would follow. Online self-report data revealed negatively biased expectancies of aversion after uncertain cues. The degree of this online expectancy bias predicted participants' estimates, at the conclusion of the experiment, of the relationship between uncertain cues and aversive pictures. Aversive pictures after the uncertain cue (relative to those after the certain cue) were accompanied by increased skin conductance responses and self-reported negative mood. These findings that uncertainty is accompanied by biased expectancies of aversion and heightened responses to aversion warrant extensions of this research in anxiety disorders, given evidence for intolerance of uncertainty and anticipatory dysfunction in the pathology of such disorders.     

Disgust as embodied loss aversion

A quickly expanding literature has examined the link between physical disgust and morality. This article critically integrates the existing evidence and draws the following conclusions: First, there is considerable evidence that experimentally induced disgust and cleanliness influence moral judgment, but moderating variables and attributional processes need to be considered. Second, moral considerations have substantial effects on behavioural concomitants of disgust, such as facial expressions, economic games and food consumption. Third, while disgust involves a conservation concern, it can manifest itself in both liberal and conservative political attitudes. Overall, disgust can be considered to form part of a behavioural loss aversion system aimed at protecting valuable resources, including the integrity of one’s body. Recommendations are offered to investigate the role of disgust more rigorously in order to fully capture its role in moral life.