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Ever wonder why some people are willing to risk it all to start a new career, climb a mountain or jet off to some foreign destination for a great adventure while others are afraid to do anything out of the ordinary? The answer may lie in how many surprise endings they've faced in the past.
According to new research from psychologist Heath Demaree, of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, people who've experienced surprising outcomes in various situations - whether those outcomes were good or bad - are less likely to take risks in the future. In other words, it's not whether you win or lose, but whether the outcome is expected. People appear to decrease their risk-taking levels after experiencing any surprising outcome - even positive ones.
"Surprising events are known to cause animals to stop, freeze, orient to the surprising stimulus and update their schemas of how the world works," Demaree said. "Our recent research suggests that surprising events also cause people to temporarily
reduce risk-taking."
Demaree, who studies emotions and how they affect
decision-making, set out to further understand how a person's current emotional state predicts risk-taking behavior. Past research has revealed that positive and negative emotional states generally decrease and increase risk-taking, respectively.
Comment: Leah Giarratano brings up several valid points, but, again, it's important to emphasize the genetic factor of psychopathy, including the fact that many psychopaths are quite difficult to detect and have no interest in committing murder and walk amongst us unnoticed for the most part. Also, their rehabilitation is impossible and useless, something that teaches them to be even better predators. For more information, see these Sott articles:
Political Ponerology: A Science on The Nature of Evil adjusted for Political Purposes Psychopaths Among Us
Beware the Corporate Psychopath
What is a psychopath?
Surviving the office psychopath