Risk Attitudes and Impulsivity: an Investigation using Gamblers
Ab stract:
The propensity to gamble is expl ained by behavioral psychology through impulsivity, defined as the inabilit y to postpone an immediate gratification and represented by hyperbolic disc ounting. Strangely, however, little to no importance has been given to the attitudes towards risk, a cornerstone of economic and financial literature. This paper show that risk preferences are indeed an important determinant of disordered gambling, as they significantly correlate with the DSM scale and in particular with the DSM items that focus on the gambling behavior ra ther than on the emotional sphere of the subjects. In contrast, the severit y of disordered gambling does not correlate with a proxy of hyperbolic disc ounting alone. This evidence also suggests that risk attitudes should also be taken into consideration in order to explain impulsive choices, which ge nerally involves uncertain outcomes. The results of the experiment also sho w that a large fraction (more than 15%) of the subjects recruited in a bett ing agency should be classified as disordered gamblers.
DTSTAMP:20260404T022354Z DTSTART:20150915T130000Z DTEND:20150915T140000Z SEQUENCE:0 TRANSP:OPAQUE END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR