TY - JOUR
T1 - Risk-taking increases under boredom
AU - Kılıç, Ayşenur
AU - van Tilburg, Wijnand A.P.
AU - Igou, Eric R.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
PY - 2020/7/1
Y1 - 2020/7/1
N2 - We examined if boredom is associated with risk-taking. Although this association has frequently been postulated, it has rarely been tested, and the evidence has thus far been rather indirect and speculative. We conducted three studies to test this association more systematically. In Study 1, people high in boredom proneness reported greater risk-taking across financial, ethical, recreational, and health or safety domains. In Study 2, over a series of risky decisions, risk-taking increased in tandem with state boredom. Consistently, in Study 3, people who felt more bored were more likely to choose risky gambles. Furthermore, while dispositional self-control predicted lower risk-taking, state boredom nullified this association, suggesting that elevated risk-taking might be attributed the erosion of self-control under boredom. Our findings establish via direct empirical tests that boredom is associated with making riskier decisions.
AB - We examined if boredom is associated with risk-taking. Although this association has frequently been postulated, it has rarely been tested, and the evidence has thus far been rather indirect and speculative. We conducted three studies to test this association more systematically. In Study 1, people high in boredom proneness reported greater risk-taking across financial, ethical, recreational, and health or safety domains. In Study 2, over a series of risky decisions, risk-taking increased in tandem with state boredom. Consistently, in Study 3, people who felt more bored were more likely to choose risky gambles. Furthermore, while dispositional self-control predicted lower risk-taking, state boredom nullified this association, suggesting that elevated risk-taking might be attributed the erosion of self-control under boredom. Our findings establish via direct empirical tests that boredom is associated with making riskier decisions.
KW - boredom
KW - decision making
KW - risk–taking
KW - self-control
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85074849517&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1002/bdm.2160
DO - 10.1002/bdm.2160
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85074849517
SN - 0894-3257
VL - 33
SP - 257
EP - 269
JO - Journal of Behavioral Decision Making
JF - Journal of Behavioral Decision Making
IS - 3
ER -