When evaluating risks, such as skydiving or taking an experimental drug, there are both possible harms and benefits to consider. In the current research, we hypothesize that individuals evaluating risks visually possibly see greater potential harms—but not more potential benefits—compared with those doing so verbally. This is likely because visualizing risks is inherently an affective experience, and negative affect (e.g., potential harms in risk taking) is more dominant than positive affect (e.g., potential benefits). This means that perceived harms are greater for visualizers, reducing their willingness to take risks. We obtain support for this theorizing across four studies, with visualizing individuals more likely to see harms from taking risks, leading to their risk aversion. This research thus demonstrates that visualizing risks asymmetrically shapes how individuals evaluate the two main components of risk taking (perceived harms, perceived benefits). We discuss the application of our findings to how individuals perceive risks in both the marketplace and policy settings.

中文翻译：

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加工风格在风险认知和风险决策中的调节作用

在评估风险（例如跳伞或服用实验药物）时，要考虑可能的危害和益处。在当前的研究中，我们假设与通过语言进行评估的人相比，在视觉上评估风险的个人可能会看到更大的潜在危害，但看不到更多的潜在收益。这可能是因为可视化风险本质上是一种情感体验，而负面影响（例如，冒险承担的潜在危害）比正面影响（例如，潜在的收益）更占主导地位。这意味着可视化人员受到的伤害更大，从而降低了他们冒险的意愿。我们在四项研究中都支持这一理论，使个人更容易看到冒险带来的危害，从而避免风险。因此，这项研究表明，可视化风险非对称地塑造了个人如何评估冒险行为的两个主要组成部分（感知伤害，感知收益）。我们讨论了研究结果在个人如何看待市场和政策环境中的风险方面的应用。