PERSONALITY AND RISK TAKING BEHAVIOR

Abstract

Teens are known to compulsively take dangerous risks, which separates them from any other stage in human life. It is important to study in this field so that it could better define the Myers Briggs personality types, and possibly help people that are dangerous risk takers and keep them safe by preventing a disaster before it occurs. The Myers Briggs test is an old and trusted method of discovering and categorizing people into numerous personality types. The people that are in the groups share certain traits with each other, such as possibly risk taking. It has been hypothesized from research that the “Extroverted” group will indulge in this risk taking behavior more freely than the “Introverted” type. Based on their results from an experiment (a double or nothing coin toss bet), and an online test that is designed to measure a person’s level of risk taking, it will be seen how risky these people like to be, and possibly a correlation to their personality type. In the end of the experiment, a slight difference in the data between the two groups showed that in fact the extroverted group was more prone to take risks.

Background

The Meyers- Briggs Personality test is used in many ways in the world today like for self understanding and development, team building, academic counseling, and management and leadership training.

Used by many of the fortune 500 company's and is one of the most well trusted ways to categorize people by behavior.

Teens tend to have Low Risk Perception. 17 percent of teens said speeding is fun. The fatal crash rates among 16- to 19-year-olds is four times

that of older drivers. Many different theories on why teens take risks.

Variables

Independent Variable: The Independent variable is the personality type of the participant.

Dependent Variable: The Dependant variable in this experiment will be the level of risk that the participant will choose to take

Control: The control is what the personality type is already defined as

Hypothesis

It is Hypothesized that the Extroverted group will be more willing to take risks than the Introverted Group.

Procedure

1) Have the participant take the Myers-Briggs Personality test to determine their type.

2) Give the Participant one of the quarters 3) Ask the Participant if they would like to

bet the coin in a double or nothing bet. 4) Record the results of the bet and whether

or not they chose to bet their money. 5)Have the Participant take the Risk Aptitude

test to confirm results from experiment

Data

Extroverted Introverted0123456789

Series 2

Series 2

Results

Extro

verte

d 1

Extro

verte

d 2

Extro

verte

d 3

Intro

verte

d 1

Intro

verte

d 2

Intro

verte

d 3

0

1

2

3

4

Levels Compared to participants

Levels Compared to participants

Table

Pesonality type

Yes/noLevel 1

Yes/noLevel 2

Yes/noLevel 3

Yes/noLevel 4

Yes/noLevel 5

Risk Aptitude Test level

Extroverted 1

Yes Yes Yes Yes No Moderate

Extroverted 2

Yes Yes Yes NO N/A High

Extroverted 3

Yes No N/A N/A N/A Low

Introverted 1 Yes Yes Yes NO N/A Moderate

Introverted 2 Yes Yes No N/A N/A Low

Introverted 3 Yes No N/A N/A N/A Low

Conclusion In conclusion, at a low risk situation the extroverted type is more willing to

take risks than the introverted. It was originally hypothesized that the extroverted group would be more willing, and thus risk their money more, than the introverted group. This was proven from the data to an extent. The data shows that the average for the levels of the extroverted group is higher than the average of the levels of the Introverted, which means that they are more willing to take risks. Also the Risk aptitude test rated the Extroverted group higher than the participants of the introverted group. However the data is not completely conclusive because of errors during the experiment. Firstly the amount of money or reward is too low, giving both groups a feeling that there is not much for them to lose from betting. By increasing the value of the reward the amount of risk that the participant would feel would also increase giving better results and more of a distinction between the risk takers and the non risk takers. The next error is the pool of participants. The amount of participants for this experiment is much too low to make a definite conclusion towards my hypothesis. Lastly, an error in my experiment could be the method itself. Because the method is not highly tested and thus not as valid as a more proven method. For the future, a larger pool of participants, a greater reward, and a new method of experimenting will lead to better results.

Future

For future work on the experiment it is planned to make a few corrections

Make pool of participants larger and more diverse

Change the method of testing for risk. Increase reward.

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