Individual Risk-Taking as a Function of Manipulated Information about Norms

Abstract

Life situation dilemmas were presented to Ss who were to advise the central character in the situation as to what would be the lowest acceptable odds for success of a riskier, more attractive outcome. In the first session, the effects of familiarizing oneself with arguments pro and con were measured. In the second session, 10 days later, these same Ss were presented with manipulated norm information from the first session prior to taking the dilemma questionnaire again. Ss who were given (false) information that the group had been rather risky in the first session tended to shift toward risk, while those given feedback that Ss had been quite cautious, tended to shift toward caution, while a group given no feedback from the first session fell in between these two groups. The study was interpreted as supporting the hypothesis that information about others' choice is sufficient for risky shift to occur.