Motivational Affordance and Risk-Taking Across Decision Domains

We propose a motivational affordance account to explain both stability and variability in risk-taking propensity in major decision domains. we draw on regulatory focus theory to differentiate two types of motivation (prevention,promotion) that play a key role in predicting risk-taking. study 1 demonstrated that prevention motivation is negatively associated with risk-taking across six key decision domains,including health/safety,ethics,recreation,gambling,investment,and social. in contrast,promotion motivation is positively associated with risk-taking in the social and investment domains. study 2 replicated the same pattern and provided direct evidence that promotion motivation is a strong predictor of risk-taking only in domains where there is true potential for gains. study 3 manipulated promotion (vs. prevention) motivation experimentally to demonstrate that motivational affordance is a critical mechanism for understanding risk-taking behaviors. © 2016,© 2016 by the society for personality and social psychology,inc.