The effects of framing on risky decision-making have been studied extensively in research using Kahneman and Tversky's (1981) hypothetical scenario about a contagious Asian disease. The COVID-19 pandemic offers a unique opportunity to test how message framing affects risky decision-making when millions of real lives are at stake worldwide. In a sample of US adults (N = 294), we investigated the effects of message framing and personality (Dark Triad traits) in relation to risky decision-making during the COVID-19 crisis. We found that both gain- and loss-framing influenced risk choice in response to COVID-19. People were more risk-averse in the loss condition of the current study compared to the benchmark established by Tversky and Kahneman (1981). Among the Dark Triad traits, psychopathy emerged as the significant predictor of risk taking, suggesting that people who score high in psychopathy are more likely to gamble with other people's lives during the COVID-19 crisis. We suggest that both voters and pandemic-related public awareness campaigns should consider the possibility that decision-makers with psychopathic tendencies may take greater risks with other people's lives during a pandemic. In addition, the framing of public-health messages should be tailored to increase the chances of compliance with government restrictions.

中文翻译：

---

精神病态和信息框架的黑暗三合会特征预测 COVID-19 大流行期间的风险决策

在使用 Kahneman 和 Tversky (1981) 关于传染性亚洲疾病的假设情景的研究中，已经广泛研究了框架对风险决策的影响。COVID-19 大流行提供了一个独特的机会，可以在全球数以百万计的现实生活受到威胁时，测试消息框架如何影响风险决策。在美国成年人样本中（N = 294），我们调查了在 COVID-19 危机期间信息框架和个性（黑暗三合会特征）与风险决策相关的影响。我们发现，收益框架和损失框架都会影响应对 COVID-19 的风险选择。与 Tversky 和 ​​Kahneman（1981 年）建立的基准相比，人们在当前研究的损失条件下更加厌恶风险。在黑暗三合会特征中，精神病态成为冒险的重要预测因素，这表明精神病态得分高的人更有可能在 COVID-19 危机期间拿别人的生命赌博。我们建议选民和与大流行相关的公众意识运动都应考虑具有精神病倾向的决策者在大流行期间可能会冒更大的他人生命风险的可能性。