Effect of Real-world Fear on Risky Decision-making in Medical School-based Students

Abstract

• Objective: Study the effect of real-world fear on risky decision-making under certainty and uncertainty.
• Methods:
  • Quasi-experimental study with non-psychology undergraduates (17-20 years old) from a medical school in Xian.
  • Participants divided into two groups, experiencing calm and fearful situations.
  • Tasks: Balloon Analog Risk Task (BART) for uncertainty and Cambridge Gambling Task (CGT) for certainty.
  • Outcomes: BART value, speed of decision-making, quality of decisions, adventure index, behavioral impulsivity, risk adjustment, and cortisol concentration.
• Results:
  • Participants showed lower BART values, slower decisions, and higher adventure index in fear.
  • No significant difference in decision quality, impulsivity index, risk adjustment.
  • Male subjects had a higher adventure index than females. Higher cortisol in fear.
• Conclusion: Fear reduces impulsivity under uncertainty but increases adventurousness under certainty. Gender influences risky behavior.

Introduction

• Risky decision-making involves psychology, behavioral science, biology, and economics.
• Decisions are made under certainty or uncertainty with human ability to predict probabilities.
• Emotions, including fear, can significantly influence decision-making, often under stressful conditions.
• Fear may encourage risk-taking and avoidance, but its exact impact on decision-making is unclear.

Methods

Study Design and Subjects

• Enrolled 60 non-psychology undergraduates (18-20 years) from a medical school.
• Criteria: Healthy, right-handed, no mental health issues, normal vision.
• Requirements: Normal rest, no caffeine, consent obtained.

Intervention

• Calm Situation (A): Relaxation and viewing natural scenery videos.
• Fearful Situation (B): High-altitude glass platform exposure to induce dread.
• Crossover design with a washout period between stages.
• Saliva samples collected pre and post-exposure.

Task Descriptions

• BART: Simulated balloon inflating task assessing risk under uncertainty.
• CGT: Decision-making task with predictable outcomes assessing risk under certainty.

Emotional Self-rating and Cortisol Measurement

• Used a scale with 19 variables to assess emotions.
• Cortisol measured from saliva samples to assess stress response.

Statistical Analysis

• SPSS for data analysis.
• Various statistical tests including ANOVA, t-tests, and Wilcoxon tests used.

Results

• 60 subjects completed the study.
• Fear significantly increased dread emotions and happiness slightly.
• Lower BART scores in fear indicate reduced impulsivity.
• Decision-making slower and adventure index higher in fear.
• Significant gender differences in adventure index.
• Cortisol levels increased in fear.

Discussion

• Fear reduces impulsivity under uncertainty but increases adventurousness under certainty.
• Gender differences observed with males more risk-seeking.
• Cortisol indicates stress response was significant in fear.
• Fear influences decision-making through emotional and physiological pathways.
• Limitations include small sample size and potential emotion overlap.

Data Availability

• Data included in the article and supplementary materials.

Ethics and Acknowledgments

• Study approved by ethics committee, consent obtained.
• Authors contributed to data collection, analysis, and writing.
• No conflicts of interest reported.

Supplementary Materials

• Supplementary materials available online.

References

• Extensive list of scholarly references cited throughout the study.