What unconsciously makes you take bigger risks?
.
Seeing the opposite sex. (I’m not sure if that’s a good argument for or against co-ed schools.) What was interesting was attractiveness of the opposite sex person had nothing to do with it:
This paper investigates whether exposure to the opposite sex induces greater risk-taking in both males and females. Experimental subjects evaluated a series of hypothetical monetary gambles before and after viewing pictures of opposite sex faces; control subjects viewed pictures of cars. Both males and females viewing opposite sex photos displayed a significant increase in risk tolerance, whereas the control subjects exhibited no significant change. Surprisingly, the attractiveness of the photo had no effect; subjects viewing photographs of attractive opposite sex persons displayed similar results as those viewing photographs of unattractive people.
Source: “Are people more risk-taking in the presence of the opposite sex?” from Journal of Economic Psychology, Volume 30, Issue 2, April 2009, Pages 136-146
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