Personality traits and risky decision-making in a controlled experimental task: an exploratory study

This paper first discusses historic differences in the way that personality psychologists and decision-making researchers have studied risk-taking, and then describes a preliminary study that combines elements of the two approaches. Using an Italian sample of varying age levels, this study examined the relations among personality traits (the Big-Five), demographics (age and gender) and risk-taking. Separate measures of risk-taking in a controlled experimental task were derived for trials in which subjects could achieve a gain and for trials in which subjects could avoid a loss. Personality trait effects differed for gains and for losses, and they differed depending on whether demographics were taken into account. Personality factors predicted risk-taking primarily in the domain of gains where high scores on Openness to Experience were associated with greater risk-taking and high scores on Neuroticism were associated with less risk-taking. However, there was a tendency for Neuroticism to have the opposite effect on risk-taking for losses where high scores were associated with greater risk-taking.