People tend to take more risks under stressful conditions. In the present study, we examined the effect of mild hypoxia, an unconscious and ongoing stressor, on decisions under uncertainty where probabilities are unknown. Participants completed the Balloon Analogue Risk Taking task (BART) in both a normoxic (20.9% oxygen concentration) and a mildly hypoxic (14.1% oxygen concentration) environment. The results indicate that people take more risks in a mildly hypoxic than in a normoxic environment. Despite inducing significant changes in physiological parameters, the oxygen manipulation remained undetected by participants allowing us to rule out a cognitive appraisal account for the effect. Moreover, the stressor was ongoing allowing us to discount possible post-stress reaction explanations. The current findings extend previous ones about the effect of stress on risk-taking and demonstrate that undetected stressors can increase risk-taking in decision making under ambiguity.

Decision making under stress: mild hypoxia leads to increased risk-taking / Pighin, Stefania; Bonini, Nicolao; Hadjichristidis, Constantinos; Schena, Federico; Savadori, Lucia. - In: STRESS. - ISSN 1025-3890. - 23:3(2020), pp. 290-297. [10.1080/10253890.2019.1680634]

Decision making under stress: mild hypoxia leads to increased risk-taking

Pighin, Stefania;Bonini, Nicolao;Hadjichristidis, Constantinos;Schena, Federico;Savadori, Lucia
2020-01-01

Abstract

People tend to take more risks under stressful conditions. In the present study, we examined the effect of mild hypoxia, an unconscious and ongoing stressor, on decisions under uncertainty where probabilities are unknown. Participants completed the Balloon Analogue Risk Taking task (BART) in both a normoxic (20.9% oxygen concentration) and a mildly hypoxic (14.1% oxygen concentration) environment. The results indicate that people take more risks in a mildly hypoxic than in a normoxic environment. Despite inducing significant changes in physiological parameters, the oxygen manipulation remained undetected by participants allowing us to rule out a cognitive appraisal account for the effect. Moreover, the stressor was ongoing allowing us to discount possible post-stress reaction explanations. The current findings extend previous ones about the effect of stress on risk-taking and demonstrate that undetected stressors can increase risk-taking in decision making under ambiguity.
2020
3
Pighin, Stefania; Bonini, Nicolao; Hadjichristidis, Constantinos; Schena, Federico; Savadori, Lucia
Decision making under stress: mild hypoxia leads to increased risk-taking / Pighin, Stefania; Bonini, Nicolao; Hadjichristidis, Constantinos; Schena, Federico; Savadori, Lucia. - In: STRESS. - ISSN 1025-3890. - 23:3(2020), pp. 290-297. [10.1080/10253890.2019.1680634]
File in questo prodotto:
File Dimensione Formato  
Pighin 2020 Decision making under stress mild hypoxia leads to increased risk taking.pdf

Solo gestori archivio

Descrizione: Articolo
Tipologia: Versione editoriale (Publisher’s layout)
Licenza: Tutti i diritti riservati (All rights reserved)
Dimensione 1 MB
Formato Adobe PDF
1 MB Adobe PDF   Visualizza/Apri

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11572/247674
Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? 6
  • Scopus 16
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? 14
  • OpenAlex ND
social impact