Individual differences in trait urgency moderate the role of the affect heuristic in adolescent binge drinking

This study investigated the roles of the affect heuristic and outcome beliefs in explaining the relationship between negative urgency and adolescent binge drinking behaviour. The sample consisted of 391 Australian high school students, who were selected to be low or high on urgency. We hypothesised that highly urgent adolescents would be more likely than adolescents low in urgency to utilise the affect heuristic (i.e., to rely upon affective input) when making alcohol-related decisions. Multiple-group path analysis supported this prediction. Adolescents high in urgency exhibited greater use of the affect heuristic by displaying a direct path from affective associations to binge drinking; whereas adolescents low in urgency exhibited greater reliance upon rational processing by displaying an indirect path via outcome beliefs.     

Sensation seeking and danger invulnerability: Paths to college student risk-taking

This study examines the roles of sensation seeking and invulnerability as predictors of health compromising behaviors in a multiethnic sample of 1690 emerging adult college students (mean age = 19.8, range 18–25 years) from nine US colleges and universities. Participants completed the Arnett Sensation Seeking Inventory and the Adolescent Invulnerability Scale; and reported how often they had participated in a set of health compromising risk behaviors (i.e., substance use, impaired driving, and sexual behaviors) in the 30 days prior to assessment. Sensation seeking and danger invulnerability scores were moderately correlated (r = .30). Findings from a series of multivariate Poisson regression analyses suggest that when considered simultaneously as predictors, sensation seeking appears to be a general risk factor associated with engagement in a variety of risk behaviors, whereas danger invulnerability is primarily a factor in those risk behaviors that are less common among peers (e.g., hard drug use, casual sex, and driving while intoxicated).     

Neural correlates of Traditional Chinese Medicine induced advantageous risk-taking decision making

This fMRI study examined the neural correlates of the observed improvement in advantageous risk-taking behavior, as measured by the number of adjusted pumps in the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART), following a 60-day course of a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) recipe, specifically designed to regulate impulsiveness in order to modulate risk-taking behavior. The 14 participants recruited for this study were randomly assigned to the experimental and control groups and the TCM recipe (Panax, 520 mg; Astragalus membranaceous Bunge, 520 mg; Masnetitum, 840 mg; Ostrea gigas Thumb, 470 mg; Thinleaf Milkwort Root Radix Polygalae, 450 mg; and Os Draconis, 470 mg) was administered, as a diet supplement, to the seven participants in the experimental group. The neural activity of the two groups was monitored by a 3T MRI scanner, before and after the 60-day treatment. Associated with the improved advantageous risk-taking behavior seen in the experimental group, significantly stronger blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) responses were observed in the bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), left putamen, left thalamus, right insula, and right anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), regions which have previously been reported as being involved in risk-taking decision making. The effect of the TCM in improving advantageous risk-taking decision making appears to have been related to the enhanced efficiency of the cognitive affective system, the PFC–ACC–insula–striatum network, which functions to inhibit impulsiveness, to sensitize reward-related information, and to allow the opportunity, during risk estimation, to evaluate potential gains and losses. The findings of this study suggest that interventions acting on factors modulating risk-taking decision making could have a beneficial effect in terms of optimizing risk-taking behavior.     

9/11 as a new temporal phase for Islam

Since the bombing of the twin towers, ‘Islam’ as a cultural narrative has entered a new temporal phase which in many ways signifies the re-imagining of a religion through the visual imagery of 9/11 and the global events which have unfolded since the apocalyptic images were first witnessed by the world. The distant proximity of 9/11 and the relocation of the perceived Islamic ‘resurgent atavism’ within the heartlands of power in Western soil constitute the formation of a new sociological imagination of Islam and 9/11 as a new liminal temporality. The association of the religion with a new category of risks in urban sites and the constant state of insecurity in seemingly secure spaces represents a new narrative phase of geo-politics in which the locus of this re-imagining mediated through ICTs, is one that happens not just in faraway places but within the ‘ontological securities’ of Western modernity, posing a liquid threat which is impervious to territorially bounded spheres.     

Relating individual differences in Attitude toward Ambiguity to risky choices

Subjects (76 adult Italians of varying ages) completed a two‐part procedure. One part used an Ellsberg‐type task which allowed for both aggregate and individual level analysis of Attitude toward Ambiguity. The other part used an expanded risky choice task to assess the same subjects' Attitude toward Risk. While there was an overall tendency for subjects to be slightly ambiguity‐averse, there was a positive correlation between Attitude toward Ambiguity and Attitude toward Risk. This relation was particularly strong when the risky choice was to avoid a loss rather than to achieve a gain. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Intergenerational transmission of antisocial behavior: How do kids become antisocial adults?

Exposure to many potential environmental risk factors for child antisocial behavior is associated with one of the strongest predictors of antisocial behavior, a family history of antisociality. Because most studies of putative environmental factors do not take into account genetic propensities for antisocial behavior shared between parent and child, the possibility of genetic contributions to these “environmental” markers is typically not evaluated. In this paper, we review research on the environmental correlates of antisociality, their association with parental antisociality, and highlight findings from studies that have controlled for either genetic propensities or parental antisociality.     

Gender differences in attitudes towards driving and demand for private Insurance: Evidence from middle class drivers

This article examines the existence of associations between the gender of the driver, their risk behavior when driving motor vehicles and their inclination to acquire automobile insurance. To conduct this investigation a random survey was carried out with 566 middle class adults in 66 Brazilian towns and cities. By using non-parametric tests and logit models, the results suggest that even when controlling for other variables, women feel a greater need to have automobile insurance to protect themselves in the event of possible accidents under rainy conditions and also to have access to driver support services. Women also tend to have more respect for speed limits in various situations, such as during the rush hour, on local roads and on highways. The results also showed that men feel safer than women driving in more precarious situations: at night, in unfamiliar areas, after drinking, or even when they are tired. These results, in addition to contributing to the theoretical development of road traffic and transportation safety, are of special relevance to the financial industry and the regulatory agency. The insurance industry may find these results particularly helpful in designing future policies and setting premiums.     

Ownership Status and the Representation of Assets of Uncertain Value: The Balloon Endowment Risk Task (BERT)

Owners tend to overvalue possessions relative to non‐owners: a phenomenon known as the endowment effect. In three experiments, using markets for goods of uncertain value, we investigated whether this can be partly attributed to misperceiving an asset's profitability or to uncertainty about a good's utility. To test our hypotheses, we devised the Balloon Endowment Risk Task, in which participants can sell or buy their right to participate in the Balloon Analogue Risk Task. Once purchased/retained, a virtual balloon is pumped to accrue money, which is lost if the balloon bursts. Participants first learn about the risky asset (balloon) by observing others playing the Balloon Analogue Risk Task before they enter the market. In Experiment 1, we replicated the endowment effect; yet, owners and non‐owners predicted pumping the same number of times and subsequently did so when given that opportunity. In Experiments 2 and 3, the level of uncertainty about the balloon's profitability was manipulated by modifying the number of bursts that participants viewed in the initial learning stage. When more diagnostic information was provided, making the average burst point easier to estimate and reducing value uncertainty and increasing confidence in valuation, the endowment effect diminished although mean estimates of the average burst point did not differ between owners and non‐owners. Thus, endowment effects were partly attributable to value uncertainty but could not be explained by owners and non‐owners having divergent perceptions of the asset's payoff distribution. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Risk compensation theory and bicycle helmets – Results from an experiment of cycling speed and short-term effects of habituation

It has been suggested that the safety benefits of bicycle helmets are limited by risk compensation. The current study contributes to explaining whether the potential safety effects of bicycle helmets are reduced by cyclists’ tendency to cycle faster when wearing them (as a result of risk compensation), and if this potential reduction can be associated with a change in perceived risk. A previous study (Fyhri & Phillips, 2013) showed that non-routine helmet users did not increase their speed immediately after being given a helmet to wear, while routine helmet users cycled more slowly. The current study tests whether the previously found reduction in speed in response to helmet removal – as an indirect indicator of risk compensation – could be established in non-routine helmet users, after a period of habituation while cycling with a helmet.We did this by conducting a randomized crossover trial, in which we used GPS-derived speed calculations and self-reported risk perception. To test the effect of habituation, we used a design where each participant took part in two rounds with a break between and each round having two trips. We collected the data in June 2015. Non-routine helmet users (N = 31) were recruited in the field (along cycle routes in Oslo), and through a sample drawn from the Falck National register of bicycle owners. In the first phase of the study, all participants were asked to complete a test route (2.4 km downhill) with and without a helmet. In the second phase of the experiment, conducted after 1.5–2 h, the same participants again completed the test route with and without a helmet. In the time between the first and second phases of the experiment, all participants were given helmets, and told to use them on a predefined bicycle route.Habituation to the helmet between the first and second phases of the experiment did not produce any decrease (with helmet removal) in speed, on top of the habituation that occurred while cycling down the hill (the order effect). Mean speed difference for cycling with/without a helmet before the break was −0.76 km/h, after the break this difference was 0.32 km/h; 95% CIs [−0.5, 2.9] and [−0.9, 1.5]. We argue that risk compensation is an unlikely effect of using a bicycle helmet, and probably cannot explain any adverse effects related to helmet legislation.