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Visceral influences on risk‐taking behavior
Author(s) -
Ditto Peter H.,
Pizarro David A.,
Epstein Eden B.,
Jacobson Jill A.,
MacDonald Tara K.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
journal of behavioral decision making
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.136
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1099-0771
pISSN - 0894-3257
DOI - 10.1002/bdm.520
Subject(s) - gratification , psychology , condom , reading (process) , social psychology , cognitive psychology , developmental psychology , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) , medicine , syphilis , family medicine , political science , law
Abstract Visceral cues indicating proximity to objects of desire can lead people to be disproportionately influenced by the anticipated rewards of immediate gratification rather than the risks of consummatory behavior. Two studies examined this hypothesis. In Study 1, participants were given the choice of playing a game in which they risked time in the lab to win chocolate chip cookies. Participants who could see and smell the cookies while they made their decision were less sensitive to risk information than were participants for whom the cookies were merely described. In Study 2, male condom users either saw a video or read a description depicting a young couple deciding whether to have sex without a condom. Participants seeing the video expressed a greater likelihood of having unprotected sex in the situation than did participants reading the description. The underappreciated role of visceral factors in social cognition theory and research is discussed. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.