An important proposition underlying prospect theory is the notion that when decision-makers must choose between options with gains and losses, their preference for positive outcomes often mirrors their preference for negative outcomes. This is called the reflection effect. This paper aimed to test the extent to which the reflection effect is associated with household finance outcomes. A secondary goal was to determine whether different risk preference groups, based on categorised reflection effect responses (i.e. risk avoiders, loss averse, loss tolerant and risk seekers), share common demographic characteristics. Findings, based on internet survey data from more than 40,000 individuals aged 35 or older, showed that individuals, on average, exhibit the reflection effect. The results also confirmed that there are differences in behaviour across risk categories, but that it is difficult to cluster decision-makers into a risk category using demographic characteristics.

前景理论的一个重要命题是这样一个概念，即当决策者必须在具有收益和损失的选择之间进行选择时，他们对积极结果的偏爱往往反映了他们对消极结果的偏爱。这称为反射效果。本文旨在测试反射效应与家庭财务结果相关的程度。第二个目标是基于分类的反射效应响应（即，规避风险，避免损失，容忍损失和寻求风险者），确定不同的风险偏好组是否具有共同的人口统计学特征。根据来自40,000多名35岁或以上个人的互联网调查数据得出的发现表明，这些个人平均表现出反射效应。