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“I” make you risk-averse: The effect of first-person pronoun use in a lottery choice experiment

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  • He, Tai-Sen

Abstract

Does repeated exposure to the first-person pronoun “I” influence people’s attitudes toward risk? In a lottery-choice experiment, I directly manipulate the use of the pronoun “I” in two treatment conditions: “I,” in which the pronoun is included, and “No I,” in which it is omitted. I find that subjects in the “I” treatment condition appear to be more risk-averse than those in the “No I” treatment, suggesting a simple and cheap but effective way for policymakers and practitioners to mount interventions.

Suggested Citation

  • He, Tai-Sen, 2017. "“I” make you risk-averse: The effect of first-person pronoun use in a lottery choice experiment," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 39-42.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:153:y:2017:i:c:p:39-42
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2017.01.014
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Charles A. Holt & Susan K. Laury, 2002. "Risk Aversion and Incentive Effects," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(5), pages 1644-1655, December.
    2. Alain Cohn & Jan Engelmann & Ernst Fehr & Michel André Maréchal, 2015. "Evidence for Countercyclical Risk Aversion: An Experiment with Financial Professionals," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(2), pages 860-885, February.
    3. Urs Fischbacher, 2007. "z-Tree: Zurich toolbox for ready-made economic experiments," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 10(2), pages 171-178, June.
    4. Wolfgang Breuer & Michael Riesener & Astrid Juliane Salzmann, 2014. "Risk aversion vs. individualism: what drives risk taking in household finance?," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(5), pages 446-462, May.
    5. Anderson, Lisa R. & Mellor, Jennifer M., 2008. "Predicting health behaviors with an experimental measure of risk preference," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(5), pages 1260-1274, September.
    6. Robert B. Barsky & F. Thomas Juster & Miles S. Kimball & Matthew D. Shapiro, 1997. "Preference Parameters and Behavioral Heterogeneity: An Experimental Approach in the Health and Retirement Study," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(2), pages 537-579.
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    Cited by:

    1. Chen, Josie I. & He, Tai-Sen, 2021. "Discounting from a distance: The effect of pronoun drop on intertemporal decisions," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    2. Niklas Ziemann, 2022. "You will receive your money next week! Experimental evidence on the role of Future-Time Reference for intertemporal decision-making," CEPA Discussion Papers 56, Center for Economic Policy Analysis.
    3. Chen, Josie I. & He, Tai-Sen & Riyanto, Yohanes E., 2019. "The effect of language on economic behavior: Examining the causal link between future tense and time preference in the lab," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Risk preferences; Attitudes toward risk; Risk aversion; First-person pronoun; Laboratory experiment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D81 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty
    • C91 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Individual Behavior

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