Researchers at Columbia University conducted a study in which people were escorted to a seat and asked to make a decision between two alternatives, one risky and the other less risky. The people were escorted to their seats by a woman who would lightly touch the back of the shoulder of some participants.
It turns out that those participants who were touched – even if they weren’t’ aware of the touch – chose the riskier option 50% more times than those who weren’t touched.
Similar experiments were conducted with men as the escorts and the results were not the same. It turns out a maternal touch provides people with a sense of security that leads them to take greater risks.
“If the feeling of security really is the thing causing people to take on more risk,” according to professor Jonathan Levav, author of the study, “then people who wrote about feeling insecure and who were not touched should be really risk-averse — which they were.”
Similar behavior is found in the animal world. Baby animals are more willing to take greater risks (e.g. venture further from the den) if they receive more maternal attention.
While such research can help explain ingrained risky (or risk-averse) behavior, it can also be used to manipulate how people make decisions in the future.
Download: Physical Contact and Financial Risk-Taking
