SRA-E Lisbon 2017

In order to be able to act in everyday life people constantly have to make quick decisions. The quality of these decisions is correlated with the expertise and experience people can rely on in a specific situation. However, people constantly have to make decisions and act in (risky) situation in which they can’t rely on intensive expertise. In this kind of situations people use different strategies to come to reasonable decisions. One well researched strategy is the so-called affect heuristic: The current affective state is taken as a proxy for the riskiness of a situation and the behavior is adjusted accordingly. If the affect does not reflect the riskiness of the situation, this strategy can lead to biased decision making. However, there might be many others, less researched factors, influencing decision making in risky situations. In the current research we explored the influence of being bodily active (active vs. non-active) and time of day (morning vs. noon vs. afternoon) on intended risk taking. In a between-subjects questionnaire study a sample of winter sportswomen /-men (N = 350) were approached in a major ski resort. Among others, results showed a decrease in intended risk-taking during the course of the day. Additionally, while being active (i.e. skiing or snowboarding) participants reported to behave more risk taking compared to being non-active (i.e. being at the parking lot, or during lunch break). Furthermore, there was some indication that affective states moderate intentions of risk taking: Higher levels of positive affect were associated with more intended risk-taking, while higher levels of negative affect were associated with less risk taking. Overall, results gave some evidence that risk taking, at least in outdoor sport, is influenced by the bodily state of being active and time of day. Further research should explore, whether these are significant factors on risk perception and behavior in different contexts as well.