Examining the Influences of an Audience and Individual Differences on Risk-Taking Behavior

The goal of this study was to examine how different types of people are affected by an audience on measures of risk-taking and expected value sensitivity (EVS; an individual’s ability to determine whether it is good or bad to take a risk). Participants completed individual difference measures of extraversion, neuroticism, and self-esteem, which were combined to create a continuous measure of orientation towards the social environment. To measure risk-taking and EVS, a new task was developed, the Appalachian Coins Task (ACT). Participants completed the ACT either in the presence of an audience or with no audience present. It was hypothesized that individuals would be more risky while in front of an audience. Additionally, it was hypothesized that the presence of an audience would have a stronger impact on risk-taking for negative-orientation individuals than for positive-orientation individuals. Finally, it was hypothesized that the presence of an audience would increase EVS for positive-orientation individuals and decrease it for negative-orientation individuals. While the results did not support these hypotheses, exploratory analyses revealed numerous interesting findings. The results of this study highlight the importance of taking individual differences into account when studying the impact of an audience on risk-taking.