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Going for broke: Mortality salience increases risky decision making on the Iowa gambling task
Author(s) -
Hart Joshua,
Schwabach James A.,
Solomon Sheldon
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
british journal of social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.855
H-Index - 98
eISSN - 2044-8309
pISSN - 0144-6665
DOI - 10.1348/014466610x485465
Subject(s) - mortality salience , salience (neuroscience) , psychology , existentialism , terror management theory , social psychology , iowa gambling task , task (project management) , anxiety , death anxiety , cognitive psychology , psychiatry , cognition , political science , management , law , economics
Research on gambling, and risk taking in general, has focused primarily on approach‐related motivations. The current study examined the avoidance of existential anxiety as a possible source of risky decision making and behaviour. The authors hypothesized that participants reminded of their own mortality would consequently make riskier decisions (and therefore perform more poorly) on the Iowa gambling task. Results confirmed this prediction. Implications of the finding that existential concerns undermine efficient decision making are considered.