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Proceedings. Biological Sciences Jun 2018Who takes risks, and when? The proposes two non-independent selection pressures governing risk-taking: need-based and ability-based. The need-based account suggests...
Who takes risks, and when? The proposes two non-independent selection pressures governing risk-taking: need-based and ability-based. The need-based account suggests that actors take risks when they cannot reach target states with low-risk options (consistent with risk-sensitivity theory). The ability-based account suggests that actors engage in risk-taking when they possess traits or abilities that increase the expected value of risk-taking (by increasing the probability of success, enhancing payoffs for success or buffering against failure). Adaptive risk-taking involves integrating both considerations. Risk-takers compute the expected value of risk-taking based on their -the interaction of embodied capital relative to one's situation, to the same individual in other circumstances or to other individuals. We provide mathematical support for this dual pathway model, and show that it can predict who will take the most risks and when (e.g. when risk-taking will be performed by those in good, poor, intermediate or extreme state only). Results confirm and elaborate on the initial verbal model of state-dependent risk-taking: selection favours agents who calibrate risk-taking based on implicit computations of condition and/or competitive (dis)advantage, which in turn drives patterned individual differences in risk-taking behaviour.
Topics: Animals; Humans; Individuality; Invertebrates; Models, Biological; Risk-Taking; Vertebrates
PubMed: 29925612
DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2018.0180 -
Disease Models & Mechanisms Aug 2015I entered the science field because I imagined that scientists were society's "professional risk takers", that they like surfing out on the edge. I understood that a lot...
I entered the science field because I imagined that scientists were society's "professional risk takers", that they like surfing out on the edge. I understood that a lot of science - perhaps even most science - has to be a solid exploration of partly understood phenomena. But any science that confronts a difficult problem has to start with risk. Most people are at least a bit suspicious of risk, and scientists such as myself are no exception. Recently, risk-taking has been under attack financially, but this Editorial is not about that. I am writing about the long view and the messages we send to our trainees. I am Senior Associate Dean of the graduate school at Mount Sinai and have had the privilege to discuss these issues with the next generation of scientists, for whom I care very deeply. Are we preparing you to embrace risk?
Topics: Biomedical Research; Humans; Risk-Taking
PubMed: 26203124
DOI: 10.1242/dmm.021840 -
Current Opinion in Psychology Dec 2022Adolescent decision-making has been characterized as risky, and a heightened reward sensitivity may be one of the aspects contributing to riskier choice-behavior.... (Review)
Review
Adolescent decision-making has been characterized as risky, and a heightened reward sensitivity may be one of the aspects contributing to riskier choice-behavior. Previous studies have targeted reward-sensitivity in adolescence and the neurobiological mechanisms of reward processing in the adolescent brain. In recent examples, researchers aim to disentangle the contributions of risk- and reward-sensitivity to adolescent risk-taking. Here, we discuss recent findings of adolescent's risk preferences and the associated neural mechanisms. We highlight potential frameworks that target individual differences in risk preferences in an effort to understand adolescent risk-taking, and with an ultimate goal of leveraging undesirable levels of risk taking.
Topics: Adolescent; Humans; Decision Making; Reward; Risk-Taking; Brain Mapping; Brain
PubMed: 36088823
DOI: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2022.101457 -
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal... Feb 2019Our willingness to take risks, our ability to wait or the speed with which to make decisions are central features of our personality. However, it is now recognized that...
Our willingness to take risks, our ability to wait or the speed with which to make decisions are central features of our personality. However, it is now recognized that impulsive and risk-taking behaviours are not a unitary construct, and different aspects can be both psychologically and neurally dissociated. The range of neurochemicals and brain systems that govern these behaviours is extensive, and this may be a contributing factor to the phenotypic range seen in the human population. However, this variety can also be pathological as extremes in risk-taking and impulsive behaviours are characteristics of many neuropsychiatric and indeed neurodegenerative disorders. This spans obsessive-compulsive disorder, where behaviour becomes ridged and non-spontaneous, to the nonsensical risk-taking seen in gambling and drug taking. This article is part of the theme issue 'Risk taking and impulsive behaviour: fundamental discoveries, theoretical perspectives and clinical implications'.
Topics: Decision Making; Humans; Impulsive Behavior; Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder; Risk-Taking
PubMed: 30966916
DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2018.0128 -
NeuroImage Jul 2022Human risk tolerance is highly idiosyncratic and individuals often show distinctive preferences when faced with similar risky situations. However, the neural...
Human risk tolerance is highly idiosyncratic and individuals often show distinctive preferences when faced with similar risky situations. However, the neural underpinnings of individual differences in risk-taking remain unclear. Here we combined structural and perfusion MRI and examined the associations between brain anatomy and individual risk-taking behavior/risk tolerance in a sample of 115 healthy participants during the Balloon Analogue Risk Task, a well-established sequential risky decision paradigm. Both whole brain and region-of-interest analyses showed that the left cerebellum gray matter volume (GMV) has a strong association with individual risk-taking behavior and risk tolerance, outperforming the previously reported associations with the amygdala and right posterior parietal cortex (PPC) GMV. Left cerebellum GMV also accounted for risk tolerance and risk-taking behavior changes with aging. However, regional cerebral blood flow (CBF) provided no additional predictive power. These findings suggest a novel cerebellar anatomical contribution to individual differences in risk tolerance. Further studies are necessary to elucidate the underestimated important role of cerebellum in risk-taking.
Topics: Brain; Cerebellum; Gray Matter; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Risk-Taking
PubMed: 35346839
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2022.119148 -
The Journal of Arthroplasty Apr 2022Decisions regarding care for osteoarthritis involve physicians helping patients understand likely benefits and harms of treatment. Little work has directly compared...
BACKGROUND
Decisions regarding care for osteoarthritis involve physicians helping patients understand likely benefits and harms of treatment. Little work has directly compared patient and surgeon risk-taking attitudes, which may help inform strategies for shared decision-making and improve patient satisfaction.
METHODS
We surveyed patients contemplating total joint arthroplasty visiting a high-volume specialty hospital regarding general questions about risk-taking, as well as willingness to undergo surgery under hypothetical likelihoods of moderate improvement and complications. We compared responses from surgeons answering similar questions about willingness to recommend surgery.
RESULTS
Altogether 82% (162/197) of patients responded, as did 65% (30/46) of joint replacement surgeons. Mean age among patients was 66.4 years; 58% were female. Surgeons averaged 399 surgeries in 2019. Responses were similar between groups for general, health, career, financial, and sports/leisure risk-taking (P > .20); surgeons were marginally more risk-taking in driving (P = .05). For willingness to have or recommend surgery, as the chance of benefit decreased, or the chance of harm increased, the percentage willing to have or recommend surgery decreased. Between a 70% and 95% chance of moderate improvement (for a 2% complication risk), as well as between a 90% and 95% chance of moderate improvement (for 4% and 6% complication risks), the percentage willing to have or recommend surgery was indistinguishable between patients and surgeons. However, for lower likelihoods of improvement, a higher percentage of patients were willing to undergo surgery than surgeons recommended. Patients were also more often indifferent between complication risks.
CONCLUSION
Although patients and surgeons were often willing to have or recommend joint replacement surgery at similar rates, they diverged for lower-benefit higher-harm scenarios.
Topics: Aged; Arthroplasty, Replacement, Hip; Arthroplasty, Replacement, Knee; Female; Humans; Male; Risk-Taking; Surgeons; Surveys and Questionnaires
PubMed: 34952164
DOI: 10.1016/j.arth.2021.12.021 -
The Neuroscientist : a Review Journal... Jun 2017Individuals vary substantially in their tendency to take risks. In the past two decades, a large number of neuroimaging studies in humans have explored the neural... (Review)
Review
Individuals vary substantially in their tendency to take risks. In the past two decades, a large number of neuroimaging studies in humans have explored the neural mechanisms of several cognitive processes that contribute to risk taking. In this article, I focus on functional and structural MRI studies that investigated uncertainty processing, one of the main features of risk behavior. Using decision-making and learning paradigms, these studies implicated a network of brain areas, including posterior parietal cortex, anterior insula, anterior cingulate cortex, and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, in various aspects of uncertainty processing. Individual differences in behavior under uncertainty are reflected in the function and structure of some of these areas and are integrated into value representations in ventromedial prefrontal cortex and ventral striatum, reinforcing the potential contribution of all of these brain structures to individual tendencies to take risks.
Topics: Animals; Brain; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Risk-Taking
PubMed: 30208788
DOI: 10.1177/1073858416672414 -
Biological Psychiatry Apr 2021Avoidant behavior is a defining feature of pediatric anxiety disorders. Although prior research has examined it from the perspective of early information processing... (Review)
Review
Avoidant behavior is a defining feature of pediatric anxiety disorders. Although prior research has examined it from the perspective of early information processing events, there has been relatively less consideration of the processes by which anxious youth make avoidant decisions and how these choices are reinforced over time. Studies of risk taking are valuable in this regard because they consider how individuals identify the pros and cons of their choices, how they weigh potential gains and losses and estimate their respective probabilities, and how they tolerate the uncertainty intrinsic to any decision. In this review, we place risk taking within existing models of information processing in pediatric anxiety disorders and highlight the particular value of this construct for informing models of developmental psychopathology and individual differences in outcome over time. We review existing behavioral and neurobiological studies of risk taking in anxious youth and conclude by identifying directions for future research.
Topics: Adolescent; Anxiety; Anxiety Disorders; Avoidance Learning; Brain; Child; Decision Making; Humans; Risk-Taking
PubMed: 33451676
DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2020.11.003 -
Journal of Research on Adolescence :... Mar 2021This study examined whether cognitive control mediated the association between socioeconomic status (SES; composite of income-to-needs ratio and parent education) and...
This study examined whether cognitive control mediated the association between socioeconomic status (SES; composite of income-to-needs ratio and parent education) and changes in risk-taking behaviors. The sample included 167 dyads of adolescents (53% male; M = 14.07 years at Time 1) and their parents, assessed annually across 4 years. Parents reported socioeconomic variables at Time 1. Adolescents reported risk-taking behaviors at Times 1 and 4, and completed a functional magnetic resonance imaging cognitive control task at Times 2 and 3. Lower SES was associated with lower behavioral (but not neural) cognitive control, which was associated with increases in risk-taking behaviors. The findings suggest that elevated socioeconomic risk may compromise cognitive control which can cascade into maladaptive behaviors in adolescence.
Topics: Adolescent; Cognition; Female; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Parents; Risk-Taking; Social Class
PubMed: 32951287
DOI: 10.1111/jora.12583 -
Social Science & Medicine (1982) Dec 2021Although there is some evidence that religious faith may offer protection against sexual risk taking in adolescence and emerging adulthood, no attempts have been made to... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis Review
RATIONALE
Although there is some evidence that religious faith may offer protection against sexual risk taking in adolescence and emerging adulthood, no attempts have been made to systematically quantify the association.
OBJECTIVE
Using data from studies conducted in the 2000-2020 period, this meta-analysis aimed to estimate the link between religious faith and four sexual risk-taking behaviors in samples of adolescents and emerging adults.
METHODS
Five different search systems were used to conduct a systematic literature search in April 2020. Studies that contained quantitative data on religious faith and at least one indicator of sexual risk taking (age at sexual debut, number of sexual partners, condom use at most recent sexual intercourse, and consistent condom use) were searched for. In total, 35 articles published in peer-reviewed journals, in English, were identified. Random-effects meta-analytic approach was used to assess target associations among 41,758 adolescents and emerging adults (M = 18.9 years, 37% male). To estimate the effect across the four risk indicators, we employed robust variance estimation (RVE) method.
RESULTS
We found small associations between religious faith on the one hand and age at sexual debut (r = 0.08, 95% CI = 0.03, 0.12) and the number of sexual partners on the other hand (r = -0.15, 95% CI = -0.21, -0.09). No association with condom use was observed. With all studies included, the overall effect size was 0.11 (95% CI = 0.06, 0.16), indicating a small (protective) role of religious faith in young people's sexual risk taking.
CONCLUSIONS
Considering the limited role of religious faith in young people's sexual and reproductive health, comprehensive sexuality education remains essential for risk-reduction, even among more religious young people.
Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Female; Humans; Male; Risk-Taking; Safe Sex; Sex Education; Sexual Behavior; Sexual Partners
PubMed: 34662764
DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.114488