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Accident-proneness and risk-taking

1991; Elsevier BV; Volume: 12; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/0191-8869(91)90134-w

1873-3549

Olof Dahlbäck,

Social and Intergroup Psychology

Accidents are unplanned or unforeseen injurious events. If an individual is prone to make decisions which lead to injurious consequences and is prone to make decisions which lead to consequences which were not planned or foreseen, then this individual can be assumed to be accident-prone. The propensity to make decisions which lead to injurious consequences is affected by the propensity to take risks. Individuals who take greater risks more often meet with injurious consequences of their decisions. Individuals who are more prone to repress the anticipation of unpleasant things and who are less able to accept uncertainty more often make decisions which lead to unplanned or unforeseen consequences. Therefore, the coefficient for the regression of accident-proneness on the propensity to take risks will have a higher value for individuals more given to repression and for individuals who are less able to accept uncertainty. This hypothesis is tested with data from two independent investigations and is supported.