The Effect Of Achievement Motivation On Self-Other Risk Preference In Decision Making

Since Wing and Wallach found that people made their own decisions were more risk seeking than predicted others, researchers have found differences in self-other decision making in various other areas and put forward different theories and hypothesis to explain the differences. Among them, the widely accepted hypothesis of psychological distance suggests that the changes of psychological distance from the self decision to the decision of others is the main reason leading to differences in self-other decision making. In our daily lives, we will make decisions for our good friends or for strangers, and the self-other psychological distance may varies with the change of others. Therefore, manipulates or measures self-other psychological distance reasonably and effectively is particularly important for the further exploration of differences in self-other decision making.In addition to the difference of others, the personal characteristics of the decision makers will also affect the decision-making preference. Previous researches have found that achievement motivation, a stable personality trait, would affect people’s risk preference when they made decisions for themselves, but we don’t know whether it affects people’s risk preference when they made decisions for others or not. On the basis of previous researches, this study examines the effect of achievement motivation on self-other risk preference in decision making on the issues of money and romantic relationship through three experiments using different methods to manipulate self-other psychological distance, in order to test the theories and hypothesis and rich the field of the self-other decision making.Experiment 1 tests the risk preference of different achievement motivation participants in making decisions for themselves and others, through dividing others into specific others and abstract others by familiarity. Experiment 2 tests the risk preference of different achievement motivation participants in making decisions for themselves and others, through dividing others into similar others and dissimilar others by similarity. Experiment 3 tests the risk preference of different achievement motivation participants in making decisions for themselves and others, through dividing others into intimate others(others who get higher scores on IOS Scale) and unfamiliar others(others who get lower scores on IOS Scale) by IOS Scale.Results showed that:(1) There was no difference in risk preference in making decisions for specific others and abstract others, but participants were more risk seeking when they made decisions for others than themselves.(2) There was no difference in risk preference in making decisions for similar others and dissimilar others, but participants were more risk seeking when they made decisions for others than themselves.(3) Participants were more risk seeking when they made decisions for unfamiliar others than intimate others, but there was no difference in risk preference in making decisions for intimate others and themselves.(4) Participants who have high achievement motivation were more risk seeking compared to the participants whose achievement motivation were low.(5) There was no difference in self-other decision making for decision-makers who have high achievement motivation. Participants whose achievement motivation were low were more risk seeking when they made decisions for others than themselves and more risk seeking when they made decisions for unfamiliar others than intimate others, but there was no difference in risk preference in making decisions for intimate others and themselves.