Rhythm of risk: the effects of musical tempo on risk aversion

• Main Authors: Yue, Miguel Zhen Kai, Tan, Nigel Jun Wen, Tan, Yu Fan
• Other Authors: He Tai-Sen
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2023
• Subjects: Social sciences::Sociology::Social behavior
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/166340
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

In everyday situations, background music is unavoidable and affects one’s decision-making process. This paper experimentally examines the effect of musical tempo on risk attitudes in said decision-making processes. In a lottery-choice task, subjects made a series of binary choices between 50-50 lottery and a sure outcome option while music was playing in the background. We manipulated the tempo of the background music and administered two treatment conditions: Control and Treatment. We found that faster musical tempo decreased risk aversion. As only music from one musical genre (Jazz) was used, we cannot come to the same conclusion regarding music from other genres. In order to confirm the findings, future replications with more variations of music are necessary.