Risks deter but pleasures allure: Is pleasure more important?
The pursuit of unhealthy behaviors, such as smoking or binge drinking, not only carries various downside risks, but also provides pleasure. A parsimonious model, used in the literature to explain the decision to pursue an unhealthy activity, represents that decision as a tradeoff between risks and b...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Cambridge University Press
2015-05-01
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| Series: | Judgment and Decision Making |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://journal.sjdm.org/14/141118/jdm141118.pdf |
| _version_ | 1827834705708318720 |
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| author | Li-Wei Chao Helena Szrek Rui Leite Karl Peltzer Shandir Ramlagan |
| author_facet | Li-Wei Chao Helena Szrek Rui Leite Karl Peltzer Shandir Ramlagan |
| author_sort | Li-Wei Chao |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The pursuit of
unhealthy behaviors, such as smoking or binge drinking, not only carries
various downside risks, but also provides pleasure. A parsimonious model, used
in the literature to explain the decision to pursue an unhealthy activity,
represents that decision as a tradeoff between risks and benefits. We build on
this literature by surveying a rural population in South Africa to elicit the
perceived riskiness and the perceived pleasure for various risky activities and
to examine how these perceptions relate to the pursuit of four specific
unhealthy behaviors: frequent smoking, problem drinking, seatbelt nonuse, and
risky sex. We show that perceived pleasure is a significant predictor for three
of the behaviors and that perceived riskiness is a significant predictor for
two of them. We also show that the correlation between the riskiness rating and
behavior is significantly different from the correlation between the pleasure
rating and behavior for three of the four behaviors. Finally, we show that the
effect of pleasure is significantly greater than the effect of riskiness in
determining drinking and risky sex, while the effects of pleasure and riskiness
are not different from each other in determining smoking and seatbelt nonuse.
We discuss how our findings can be used to inform the design of health
promotion strategies. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T05:55:45Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-a762e1e852e24449b7871f7d92675d12 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1930-2975 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T05:55:45Z |
| publishDate | 2015-05-01 |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Judgment and Decision Making |
| spelling | doaj.art-a762e1e852e24449b7871f7d92675d122023-09-03T04:39:35ZengCambridge University PressJudgment and Decision Making1930-29752015-05-01103204218Risks deter but pleasures allure: Is pleasure more important?Li-Wei ChaoHelena SzrekRui LeiteKarl PeltzerShandir RamlaganThe pursuit of unhealthy behaviors, such as smoking or binge drinking, not only carries various downside risks, but also provides pleasure. A parsimonious model, used in the literature to explain the decision to pursue an unhealthy activity, represents that decision as a tradeoff between risks and benefits. We build on this literature by surveying a rural population in South Africa to elicit the perceived riskiness and the perceived pleasure for various risky activities and to examine how these perceptions relate to the pursuit of four specific unhealthy behaviors: frequent smoking, problem drinking, seatbelt nonuse, and risky sex. We show that perceived pleasure is a significant predictor for three of the behaviors and that perceived riskiness is a significant predictor for two of them. We also show that the correlation between the riskiness rating and behavior is significantly different from the correlation between the pleasure rating and behavior for three of the four behaviors. Finally, we show that the effect of pleasure is significantly greater than the effect of riskiness in determining drinking and risky sex, while the effects of pleasure and riskiness are not different from each other in determining smoking and seatbelt nonuse. We discuss how our findings can be used to inform the design of health promotion strategies.http://journal.sjdm.org/14/141118/jdm141118.pdfhealth promotion health behavior perceived benefit perceived risk risky behavior smoking drinking seatbelt use sexual behavior.NAKeywords |
| spellingShingle | Li-Wei Chao Helena Szrek Rui Leite Karl Peltzer Shandir Ramlagan Risks deter but pleasures allure: Is pleasure more important? Judgment and Decision Making health promotion health behavior perceived benefit perceived risk risky behavior smoking drinking seatbelt use sexual behavior.NAKeywords |
| title | Risks deter but
pleasures allure: Is pleasure more important? |
| title_full | Risks deter but
pleasures allure: Is pleasure more important? |
| title_fullStr | Risks deter but
pleasures allure: Is pleasure more important? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Risks deter but
pleasures allure: Is pleasure more important? |
| title_short | Risks deter but
pleasures allure: Is pleasure more important? |
| title_sort | risks deter but pleasures allure is pleasure more important |
| topic | health promotion health behavior perceived benefit perceived risk risky behavior smoking drinking seatbelt use sexual behavior.NAKeywords |
| url | http://journal.sjdm.org/14/141118/jdm141118.pdf |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT liweichao risksdeterbutpleasuresallureispleasuremoreimportant AT helenaszrek risksdeterbutpleasuresallureispleasuremoreimportant AT ruileite risksdeterbutpleasuresallureispleasuremoreimportant AT karlpeltzer risksdeterbutpleasuresallureispleasuremoreimportant AT shandirramlagan risksdeterbutpleasuresallureispleasuremoreimportant |