Take a risk or proceed with caution: Prevention motivation moderates responses to near‐loss events

A persistently pressing issue identified in the decision‐making literature is that people not only fail to recognize the risks entailed in a near‐loss event but also subsequently engage in further risk‐taking. We contend in this paper that prevention motivation critically regulates decision‐makers' responses to a near‐loss. Across three studies, we found that high prevention‐focused individuals perceive greater risks in a near‐loss event and are subsequently less likely to take risks, compared with low prevention‐focused individuals. This finding highlights the significance of applying a motivational perspective to studying decision‐making and risk.

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