Exploring risk tolerance. Emigration: what would you tell yourself before leaving? “Figure out if this is your desire”

The concept of “willingness to risk” became widespread in the works of European scientists in the 60s in connection with the emergence of a scientific direction on the preconditions of accidents. At the same time, it is believed that the willingness to take risks is generated by the situation, but is based mainly on the individual qualities of the employee: needs, actual motives, dominance, extroversion, rigidity, egocentrism, frivolity, dishonesty, timidity, etc.

Willingness to take risks as a characterological component of “courage.” Using examples of analysis of critical life situations, they demonstrated the positive role of this quality when a person desires to act in accordance with his beliefs.

Subsequently, they began to distinguish not a generalized property of risk propensity, but an empirically substantiated, more complex representation of personal risk. Thus, the German researcher Schmidt differentiated three components of this readiness: a) mental readiness for risk, associated with the willingness to withstand a threat to one’s bodily integrity, b) social, associated with the willingness to act in an unusual way, not to pay attention to cliches or the approval of others, c) financial , as readiness for outcomes with risks that cannot be calculated, or carelessness in handling money. As a private property, risk was included in factor Q3 - impulsivity. It should be noted that the replacement of the concept of risk readiness with the concept of impulsiveness was characteristic of many authors. Willingness to take risks, as G. Eysenck emphasizes, is a tendency to seek strong sensations, which differs from impulsiveness, which is more closely related to temperament.

More experienced workers have lower risk tolerance than less experienced workers; in women it is realized with more specific expectations than in men. Willingness to take risks reflects the nature of the activity: among the military it is higher than among students; in a group setting it manifests itself more strongly than when working alone.

All characteristics of an employee, including willingness to take risks, are manifested in his behavior and actions. The choice of behavior in conditions of danger is usually determined by the following factors:

the payoff that can be obtained with this choice;

danger (physical or other);

chances of success or avoiding failure (danger);

the degree of necessity of making a choice.

Each of the above factors is based on an analysis of a specific situation and its own capabilities. For example, the chances of success or avoiding danger can be assessed in connection with the ability to control the development of the situation, prevent the negative consequences of the choice made, etc. However, a person’s behavior in a dangerous situation also depends on how adequately these conditions are reflected in his consciousness. It depends on his individual qualities. Thus, people with a weak nervous system and anxiety usually overestimate the degree of danger and the possibility of its manifestation. People, driven by a strong urge to achieve a goal and gain from this, sometimes tend, on the contrary, to underestimate the level of danger and consider the possibility of its manifestation less probable than it actually is. The influence of personal qualities is especially great when choosing a behavior option under risk conditions in extreme situations. A personality trait such as risk appetite has a particularly strong effect on choice.

Willingness to take risks is directly related to the individual's focus on achieving a goal or orientation to avoid failure. It is these motives that are most associated with accidents. Psychological research has revealed a number of patterns:

workers who had a fear of an accident are more likely to find themselves in such situations than those who were focused on success in their activities;

goal-oriented people prefer a medium level of risk, and those who are afraid of failure prefer small or, conversely, excessively large risks (where failure does not threaten prestige);

with strong motivation for success, hopes for success are usually more modest than with weak motivation;

people who are motivated to achieve a goal and have high hopes for success tend to avoid high risks;

The higher a person’s motivation to achieve a goal, the lower their willingness to take risks.

More on topic 36. Willingness to take risks and personal qualities:

Basic approaches to the study of an education manager as a subject of professional activity and development in modern psychology

Chapter 7 Willingness to take risks and carry out risky actions (behaviors)

7.1. Willingness to take risks

The definitions of the concept “risk appetite” available in the literature are very vague and are not very clearly differentiated from another concept – “risk appetite”. Some authors understand risk-taking as a property of a subject's supra-situational activity and as a prerequisite for making intellectual decisions (Kozeletsky Yu., 1991; Kornilova T.V., 1997; Petrovsky V.A., 1992).

G. Eysenck (1993) understands risk-taking as a tendency to seek strong sensations, i.e., as a personal property. German psychologists also consider risk-taking as a personal property, but they mean what is called risk-taking in English literature.

T.V. Kornilova (1994, 1997) considers risk-taking as a property of personal self-regulation, manifested by a person when making decisions and choosing action strategies under conditions of uncertainty. At the same time, she writes: “In ideas about the psychological regulation of decision-making there are concepts risk appetite and risk appetite, the relationships of which are not precisely defined and also include reference to concepts risk behavior (risikoverhalten) And behavioral risk-taking behavior. The concept of “risk appetite” is more typical for translations of English-language works; it included the idea of dispositional personal risk How an individual property that distinguishes the behavior of people in similar tasks Concept risk appetite more adequately captures the direct translation from the German term risikobereitschaft. It is significant that to a greater extent it is associated with the assessment of other individual differences than those called in connection with risk propensity. Willingness to take risks as a personal property is referred here to the skill of the subject make decisions under conditions of uncertainty as a lack of guidelines; For such a characteristic, the important point is the correlation with the concept rationality of decision making. So, the most important manifestation of the properties of intellectual and personal regulation of decision making is the subject's readiness to make decisions under conditions of uncertainty, involving risk taking” (2003).

The initial data when assessing risk readiness when making decisions are:

– a list of possible negative consequences (based on the fact that with any risky decision, losses are inevitable, you need to choose the least of several evils);

– goals (personal and work goals);

– assessment of the subjective probability of consequences occurring.

It is important, however, not only to assess the degree of risk readiness, but also, if possible, to take corrective measures in order to avoid the negative consequences of risk in a person’s life.

According to T.V. Kornilova, the process of risk taking is determined by both situational factors and the latent variable of risk readiness. At the same time, when studying students, T.V. Kornilova found that individuals with maximum indicators of personal risk readiness showed minimum risk and maximum caution in intellectual strategies. So, does risk-taking mean risk-averse?

As we can see, the question of the concept of “risk willingness” and its relationship with the concept of “risk appetite” is very confusing. This also follows from the above quote, which reveals the point of view of V. A. Petrovsky (1992): “It is not situational or dispositional personal inclinations that determine acts of risk taking. Self-propulsion of an individual’s activity, the subject’s activity in determining the range of goal setting, going beyond the given requirements - this is the source of actual genesis of risky decisions, goals and actions” (Kornilova T.V., 2003). But isn’t it about personality dispositions and situations that V. A. Petrovsky is talking about in his “model of ascent to risk” (Fig. 7.1)?

Sensation seeking is a dispositional characteristic, as is the “risk is a noble cause” attitude. And the indicative reaction (if we are really talking about it, and not about something else, understandable only to the author himself) is a situational “inclination”. And in general, the term “risk taking” is nothing more than making a decision about whether to take a risky action or refuse, given various motivational determinants (innate attraction to danger, “taste for risk” as an acquired addiction to experience a rush of adrenaline, and risk as a value , which, in essence, reflects a person’s tendency to pose and bravado).

Risk is a possible danger realized by a person. A person faces risk every day, sometimes he doesn’t even notice it because... “automatically, at the subconscious level, evaluates its likelihood and potential threat.” Sometimes risk is understood as an activity that is performed in the hope of a successful outcome or simply the characteristics of an activity in a certain situation. However, another view of risk is more common, where it is viewed as a possible danger or failure.

According to the dictionary of S.I. Ozhegova risk is defined as possible danger and acting at random in the hope of a happy outcome. According to him, for risk to exist, there must be danger, which contains uncertainty.

A.P. Algin defines risk as an activity that is associated with overcoming uncertainty in a situation of inevitable choice. In the process of this activity, it is possible to quantitatively and qualitatively assess the probability of achieving the intended result, failure and deviation from the goal.

According to O. Renn, risk is the possibility that human actions and the results of his activities lead to consequences that affect human values.

The concept of “risk” is used by many social and natural sciences. Each of them uses its own methods for this because... Each science has its own subject and its own focus in the study of risk. As a result, we can identify a wide variety of aspects in which risk or activity in risky situations can be considered.

“High willingness to take risks is usually accompanied by low motivation to avoid failure, and is directly proportional to the number of mistakes made.” Most often, in older people with a lot of life experience, the willingness to take risks weakens. If we talk about professional activities, people with extensive professional experience take risks much less often than inexperienced, young specialists. If we consider individuals by gender, then women are willing to take risks under more certain conditions than men. In a team, an individual’s readiness to take risks depends on the expectations placed on him, therefore, in a given situation, the readiness to take risks can manifest itself more strongly than if the person were alone. In general, a person’s willingness to take risks increases when an internal conflict is brewing or present. “Sometimes there is no way to avoid risk, but it is possible to minimize it, and it is enough to know simple rules so as not to take unnecessary risks.”

But it is impossible to eliminate risk from everyday life because... it is an integral feature of human activity. Typically, risk occurs in all spheres of human activity; this is due to the influence of many factors and environmental conditions, both social, economic and even natural, on the positive outcome of human decisions.

However, “risk can be managed, that is, various measures can be used that allow, to a certain extent, to predict the occurrence of a risk event and take measures to reduce the degree of risk.”

The risk cannot be considered unambiguously because sometimes it can accompany the creative activity of people, and sometimes, in dangerous situations, it is necessary for survival. Sometimes the decisions made can become risky, due to the fact that there is no way to predict the consequences that they may entail. That is why any decision made carries some degree of risk and is made by a person to ensure personal psychological safety.

Based on this, we can say that “risk not only characterizes a person’s activity as focused on the possibility of failure, but also shows the ability to calculate the situation and the person’s ability to change it in accordance with his goals.”

A person’s appetite for risk cannot be a constant value; people can take different risks in their personal lives and professional activities. An individual's willingness to take risk depends on many environmental factors, such as the characteristics of problem situations, the structuring of social systems, methods of problem formation and the type of decision made. An individual's willingness to take risks may be related to gender; men are usually more risky than women, as well as to such personal qualities as a tendency to assertiveness and dominance, impulsiveness, excitability and aggressiveness. “Negative relationships were found with social desirability, social responsibility, conscientiousness, and suggestibility.”

When assessing risk readiness when making risky decisions, the following data can be considered as initial:

1) important target settings, i.e. personal and professional goals;

2) a list of negative consequences and losses that are possible when making any risky decision, the main task here is to minimize losses;

3) the degree of risk readiness depending on the likelihood of consequences.

That is why “it is very important to assess the degree of risk readiness, and it is possible to take corrective measures to avoid the negative consequences of risk in a person’s life.”

Test "Willingness to take risks" (Schubert test)

This test allows you to assess the degree of risk readiness. Risk is understood as an action at random in the hope of a happy outcome, or as a possible danger, as an action performed under conditions of uncertainty.

2 points- I completely agree, a confident “YES”;
1 point- more “YES” than “NO”;
0 points- neither “YES” nor “NO”, something in between;
1 point- more "NO" than "YES"
2 points- a confident “NO”.
1. Would you exceed the speed limit to quickly provide necessary medical care to a seriously ill person?
2. Would you agree to participate in a dangerous and lengthy expedition for the sake of good earnings?
3. Would you stand in the way of a dangerous burglar escaping?
4. Could you ride on the step of a boxcar at a speed of over 100 km/h?
5. Can you work normally the next day after a sleepless night?
6. Would you be the first to cross a very cold river?
7. Would you lend a large amount of money to a friend, not being entirely sure that he would be able to return this money to you?
8. Would you and your tamer enter a cage with lions in front of him?

assurance that it is safe?

9. Could you, under outside guidance, climb a high factory chimney?
10. Could you sail a sailboat without training?
11. Would you risk grabbing a running horse by the bridle?
12. Could you ride a bicycle after 10 glasses of beer?
13. Could you make a parachute jump?
14. If necessary, could you travel from Tallinn to Moscow without a ticket?
15. Could you go on a car tour if your friend, who was recently in a serious traffic accident, was driving?
16. Could you jump from a 10-meter height onto a fire brigade tent?
17. To get rid of a protracted illness with bed rest, could you undergo a life-threatening operation?
18. Could you jump off the running board of a freight car moving at a speed of 50 km/h?
19. Could you, as an exception, take seven other people in an elevator designed for only six people?
20. Could you cross a busy street intersection blindfolded for a large monetary reward?
21. Would you take on a life-threatening job if you paid well for it?
22. Could you calculate percentages after 10 glasses of vodka?
23. Could you, on the instructions of your boss, take on a high-voltage wire if he assured you that the wire was de-energized?
24. Could you, after some preliminary explanations, fly a helicopter?
25. Could you, having a ticket, but without money and food, travel from Moscow to Khabarovsk?

Calculate your total points according to the instructions. General

The test score is given on a continuous scale as a deviation from the mean.

Positive answers indicate an appetite for risk.

Test result

Less - 30 points: too careful;

from - 10 to +10 points: average values;

over +20 points: prone to risk.

High willingness to take risks is accompanied by low motivation to avoid failures (protection). Willingness to take risks is significantly related to the number of mistakes made.

Research based on this test gives the following results:

o with age, the willingness to take risks decreases;
o more experienced workers have a lower willingness to take risks than inexperienced workers; o in women, the willingness to take risks is realized under more certain conditions than in men;
o military commanders and business managers have a higher risk tolerance than students;
o with increasing rejection of the individual, in a situation of internal conflict, the willingness to take risks increases;
o in a group environment, willingness to take risks is stronger than when acting alone, and depends on group expectations.

Personality diagnostic technique for motivation to avoid failures (Ehlers test)

You are offered a list of words of 30 lines, 3 words in each line. In each line, select only one of the three words that most accurately characterizes you, and mark it:

	vigilant	enterprising
2. Meek
3. Cautious	decisive	pessimistic
4. Fickle	unceremonious	attentive
5. Stupid	cowardly	not thinking
		prudent
7. Cold Blooded	wavering
8. Swift	frivolous	timid
9. Not thinking	cutesy	improvident
10. Optimistic	conscientious
11. Melancholic	doubting	unstable
12. Cowardly	careless	excited
13. Reckless		timid
14. Attentive	imprudent
15. Reasonable		courageous
16. Enterprising	careful	prudent
17. Excited	absent-minded
18. Cowardly	careless	unceremonious
19. Shy	indecisive
20. Executive	devoted	adventurous
21. Prudent		desperate
22. Tamed	indifferent	careless
23. Cautious	carefree	patient
24. Reasonable	caring
25. Foresighted	intrepid	conscientious
26. Hasty	timid	carefree
27. Absent-minded	reckless	pessimistic
28. Discreet	reasonable	enterprising
	disorganized	timid
30. Optimistic	vigilant	carefree

You get 1 point for the next choices given in the key (the first digit before the line means the row number, the second digit after the line is the number of the column in which the desired word is. For example, 1 / 2 means that the word that received 1 point in the first line , in the second column - “vigilant”). Other choices do not receive points.

Counting key:

1/2; 2/1; 2/2; 3/1; 3/3; 4/3; 5/2; 6/3; 7/2; 7/3; 8/3; 9/1; 9/2; 10/2; 11/1;
11/2; 12/1; 12/3; 13/2; 13/3; 14/1; 15/1; 16/2; 16/3; 17/3; 18/1; 19/1; 19/2;
20/1; 20/2; 21/1; 22/1; 23/1; 23/ 3; 24/1; 24/2; 25/1; 26/2; 27/3; 28/1;
28/2; 29/1; 29/3; 30/2.

Result

The higher the sum of points, the higher the level of motivation to avoid failures and protect yourself. From 2 to 10 points: low motivation to protect; from 11 to 16 points: average level of motivation; from 17 to 20 points: high level of motivation; over 20 points: too high level of motivation to avoid failures and protect.

Analysis of the result

The result is analyzed together with the “Motivation for Success” and “Willingness to Risk” tests.

Research by D. McClemaud based on this test showed that people with a high level of protection, that is, fear of accidents, are more likely to get into such troubles than those who have a high motivation for success.

Research has also shown that people who fear failure (high defensiveness) prefer low or excessive risk, where failure does not threaten prestige. The German scientist F. Burkard argues that the attitude towards protective behavior at work depends on three factors:

degree of perceived risk;

prevailing motivation;

experience of failure at work.

Two circumstances strengthen the attitude toward protective behavior: first, when it is possible to obtain the desired result without risk; the second is when risky behavior leads to an accident. Achieving a safe result with risky behavior, on the contrary, weakens the protective attitude, i.e. motivation to avoid failure.

Catherine

Number of points: 36***Test results: ***A person is prone to risk***You are prone to risk; ***In women, the willingness to take risks is relatively lower and is realized under more certain conditions than in men. Military commanders and business executives have a higher risk tolerance than students. ***But with age, the willingness to take risks usually decreases.

Valentina

Number of points: - 5***Test results: ***Average level of risk appetite******You are moderately risk averse; ******For a successful manager, the optimal motivation is the desire for success (relatively weak defensive motivation) and an average desire for risk.

Number of points: 43***Test results: ***A person is prone to risk***You are prone to risk; ***Women's willingness to take risks is relatively lower and is realized under more certain conditions than men. Military commanders and business executives have a higher risk tolerance than students. ***But with age, the willingness to take risks usually decreases.

Stanislav

Number of points: 26***Test results: ***A person is prone to risk***You are prone to risk; ***In women, the willingness to take risks is relatively lower and is realized under more certain conditions than in men. Military commanders and business executives have a higher risk tolerance than students. ***But with age, the willingness to take risks usually decreases.

You can support any idea, be a supporter of authoritarian or democratic governance, prefer the position of a leader, control the situation or profess complete fatalism, remain an optimist (we like them more) or slide into pessimism. The main thing is that your results are impressive and inspiring.

RESULT

The main criterion for your activities in the company. The result is an achievement. The result as a consequence of a fulfilled promise or commitment. Result as the basis of trust. The result is like a step for growth.

RESPONSIBILITY

This is the most important element of the company’s ideology, a category of attitude to business. Each employee does everything to ensure results. And he does this not only as part of his job duties and during working hours. He may or may not be helped by higher powers, circumstances of place and time, or his colleagues. This means that every installer or storekeeper must feel responsible for sales volume. They will not ask him to fulfill the sales plan, however, he is obliged to acknowledge his participation in its implementation.

WILLINGNESS TO TAKE RISKS

Not to be confused with the popular principle “maybe it will work out.” This is an absolute value for a growth-oriented company, always ready to take on something that “we haven’t tried before.” Unlike relying on "maybe", this implies absolute inclusion in the "here and now", and connection with the goal. The company tolerates errors resulting from this type of risk (but this does not mean that we welcome them). However, this does not relieve responsibility. If we took a risk by concluding an agreement that must be fulfilled in a very short time, then we must do everything to comply with it. It is necessary to clearly distinguish risk from negligence, when, for example, they release or accept cargo without checking it with the consignment note.