Risk Taking in Relationships: Differences in Deciding for Oneself Versus for a Friend

Abstract

Three experiments examined whether people make decisions about romantic relationships differently when deciding for themselves versus others. In Experiment 1, participants were more likely to make decisions or give advice to friends encouraging risk-taking behavior than they were to take the same risks when deciding for themselves. Experiment 2 showed that this difference occurs only for low life-impact decisions but does not occur when the decisions have particularly serious potential consequences. Experiment 3 demonstrated that the self-other differences were not eliminated when information on the potential consequences was explicitly presented to participants. However, an examination of participants' reasons for their choices showed that they were more likely to consider the potential negative outcomes to be important when deciding for themselves than when deciding for other people.