Acute stress affects risk taking but not ambiguity aversion

Abstract

Economic decisions are often made in stressful situations (e.g., at the trading floor), but the effects of stress on economic decision making have not been systematically investigated so far. The present study examines how acute stress influences economic decision making under uncertainty (risk and ambiguity) using financially incentivized lotteries. We varied the domain of decision making as well as the expected value of the risky prospect. Importantly, no feedback was provided to investigate risk taking and ambiguity aversion independent from learning processes. In a sample of 75 healthy young participants, 55 of whom underwent a stress induction protocol (Trier Social Stress Test for Groups), we observed more risk seeking for gains. This effect was restricted to a subgroup of participants that showed a robust cortisol response to acute stress (n = 26). Gambling under ambiguity, in contrast to gambling under risk, was not influenced by the cortisol response to stress. These results show that acute psychosocial stress affects economic decision making under risk, independent of learning processes. Our results further point to the importance of cortisol as a mediator of this effect.

Psychobiological stress response to a simulated school shooting in police officers

“…Interestingly, acute stress affects decision-making under risk and different effects of sympathetic compared to endocrine reactivity have been related to this phenomenon (Pabst et al, 2013). Findings of acute stress affecting risk taking are quite robust (for a recent revision of the literature: Buckert et al, 2014) whereas research on possible sex-related differences is still at the beginning but promising (van den Bos et al, 2013;Buckert et al, 2014). Since our study included only nine women, no final conclusion can be drawn and future studies providing a more in-depth view on possible differences between men's and women's psychobiological stress levels in high-stress occupational populations is warranted.…”

Stress and decision making: effects on valuation, learning, and risk-taking

“…Multiple studies have reported risk-taking increases when decisions are framed as potential financial gains [64–66], though longer stress-to-task latencies have recently been shown to be a factor with respect to decisions under risk [i.e., greater risk taking immediately after stress but reduced risk-taking 45 minutes later; 67] Other studies separating decisions under risk by domain (gain/loss trials) are inconsistent. For instance, acute systemic stress applied in that context has led to an exaggerated reflection effect (i.e., decreased risk-taking for gains but increases for losses) interpreted as a stress-related shift towards habit-based DM [68].…”

Cortisol responses to a group public speaking task for adolescents: Variations by age, gender, and race

“…To our knowledge, published studies using the standard TSST-G protocol have thus far mostly been conducted with adults from Germany, Switzerland or Norway (Boesch et al, 2014; Buckert et al, 2014, 2012; Häusser et al, 2012; Jacobsen et al, 2014; Klaperski et al, 2014, 2013; Kumsta et al, 2013; Leder et al, 2013; von Dawans et al, 2011, 2012). Two studies conducted in the United States have used modified versions of the task conducted with groups of 2-3 participants (Childs et al, 2006; Hackman et al, 2013).…”