title: The Relative State Model: Integrating Need-Based and Ability-Based Pathways to Risk-Taking.
abstract: Who takes risks, and why? Does risk-taking in one context predict risk-taking in other contexts? We seek to address these questions by considering two non-independent pathways to risk: need-based and ability-based. The need-based pathway suggests that risk-taking is a product of competitive disadvantage consistent with risk-sensitivity theory. The ability-based pathway suggests that people engage in risk-taking when they possess abilities or traits that increase the probability of successful risk-taking, the expected value of the risky behavior itself, and/or have signaling value. We provide a conceptual model of decision-making under risk-the relative state model-that integrates both pathways and explicates how situational and embodied factors influence the estimated costs and benefits of risk-taking in different contexts. This model may help to reconcile long-standing disagreements and issues regarding the etiology of risk-taking, such as the domain-generality versus domain-specificity of risk or differential engagement in antisocial and non-antisocial risk-taking.
authors.affiliation: 1 University of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada.
authors.forename: Sandeep
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mishra
authors.affiliation: 2 University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Pat
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Barclay
authors.affiliation: 3 University of California, Los Angeles, USA.
authors.forename: Adam
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sparks
mesh_terms: D000987:Antisocial Personality Disorder; D003657:Decision Making; D006801:Humans; D011336:Probability; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012919:Social Behavior
keywords: antisocial conduct; domain-specificity; embodied capital; evolutionary psychology; individual differences; risk; risk-sensitivity theory; signaling