Standing in Your Peer’s Shoes Hurts Your Feats: The Self-Others Discrepancy in Risk Attitude and Impulsivity

Abstract

It is often a good strategy to “stand in the other person’s shoes” to see a situation from a different perspective. People frequently attempt to infer what someone else would recommend when no advisor is available to help with a decision. Such situations commonly concern intertemporal or risky choices, and the usual assumption is that lay people make such decisions differently than experts do. The aim of our study was to determine what intertemporal and risky decisions people make when they take their own perspective, the perspective of a peer, and the perspectives of an expert or an entrepreneur. In a series of three experiments using a between-subject design, we found that taking the peer’s perspective made participants behave more impulsively and more risk aversely in relation to the participants’ own perspectives and in relation to their perceptions of experts and entrepreneurs perspectives. Taking an expert’s or an entrepreneur’s perspective did not change participants’ own intertemporal and risky decisions. We explain the findings using the risk as value and the lesser mind theories. Imagining the opponent’s perspective in a negotiation as one is advised to do might inadvertently lead to problems because we always see her as more impulsive and more risk averse than she really is. This means that taking a perspective of an expert – not a peer – would be a good way to predict what decisions our opponents make.

The effect of “should” and “would” instructions on delay discounting of rewards for self and others

“…Recently, a new line of research has emerged which examines decisions affected by these two dimensions by placing social distance manipulations within a delay discounting context (e.g., "Would you choose to receive $100 now or $500 in a year for your cousin?"). A key goal of this research has been to compare the choices about delayed reinforcers people make for themselves to those they make for other people (Albrecht, Volz, Sutter, Laibson, & von Cramon, 2011;Bialaszek, Bakun, McGoun, & Zielonka, 2016;Kim, Schnall, & White, 2013;O'Connell, Christakou, Haffey, & Chakrabarti, 2013;Pronin, Olivola, & Kennedy, 2008;Ziegler & Tunney, 2012). In general, participants' choices for themselves and others are more similar when the participant feels closer to the person they are deciding for (c.f., Bialaszek et al, 2016).…”

“…A key goal of this research has been to compare the choices about delayed reinforcers people make for themselves to those they make for other people (Albrecht, Volz, Sutter, Laibson, & von Cramon, 2011;Bialaszek, Bakun, McGoun, & Zielonka, 2016;Kim, Schnall, & White, 2013;O'Connell, Christakou, Haffey, & Chakrabarti, 2013;Pronin, Olivola, & Kennedy, 2008;Ziegler & Tunney, 2012). In general, participants' choices for themselves and others are more similar when the participant feels closer to the person they are deciding for (c.f., Bialaszek et al, 2016). As social distance increases, however, so does the difference in findings.…”

Overlapping defaults. The case of intertemporal choices

“…Results showed that the direction effect was significantly reduced. Taking the perspective of an expert also had an effect on discounting with people becoming more risk averse and more patient (Białek & Sawicki, 2014), while "standing in peer's shoes" resulted in increased risk seeking and impatience (Białaszek, Bakun, McGoun, & Zielonka, 2016).…”

“…The reference points can be imposed externally or have internal origins, and can be made explicitly by instruction, or more subtle, i.e. by priming (Israel, Rosenboim, & Shavit, 2014), perspective taking (Bialek & Sawicki, 2014;Białaszek, Bakun, McGoun, & Zielonka, 2016) or slight changes to the experimental procedure (Sawicki & Białek, 2016).…”

Związek wysiłku fizycznego z odraczaniem wypłat finansowych

“…instrukcję. Ludzie wykazują mniejszą impulsywność, gdy pytani są o wyobrażenie sobie, co na ich miejscu zrobiłby ekspert (Białek, Sawicki, 2014), natomiast więk-szą, gdy wyobrażają sobie, jak postapiłby na ich miejscu laik (Białaszek, Bakun, McGoun, Zielonka, 2016). Ponadto ludzie przywiązują się do (choćby nieumyślnie) narzuconego punktu odniesienia.…”