Acute stress increases sex differences in risk seeking in the balloon analogue risk task.
other · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 19568417.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0006002 and PMC identifier 2698212.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Decisions involving risk often must be made under stressful circumstances. Research on behavioral and brain differences in stress responses suggest that stress might have different effects on risk taking in males and females. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In this study, participants played a computer game designed to measure risk taking (the Balloon Analogue Risk Task) fifteen minutes after completing a stress challenge or control task. Stress increased risk taking among men but decreased it among women. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Acute stress amplifies sex differences in risk seeking; making women more risk avoidant and men more risk seeking. Evolutionary principles may explain these stress-induced sex differences in risk taking behavior.
Medical subject headings
- Risk-Taking
- Stress, Psychological
- Task Performance and Analysis