The effect of self-referencing on risk behaviours : evidence from Amazon mechanical turk

Language, a tool of communication in everyday life, has been extensively explored in the field of sociolinguistics and psycholinguistics. However, the minor yet significant impact of variations in linguistic elements on the perceptions of the human mind is not extensively explored in the field of ec...

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Main Authors: Chan, Shi Jun, Chia, Shan Ai, Heng, Zhi Hao
Other Authors: He Tai-sen
Format: Final Year Project
Language:English
Published: 2017
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10356/70040
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Institution: Nanyang Technological University
Language: English
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spelling sg-ntu-dr.10356-700402019-12-10T12:02:40Z The effect of self-referencing on risk behaviours : evidence from Amazon mechanical turk Chan, Shi Jun Chia, Shan Ai Heng, Zhi Hao He Tai-sen School of Humanities and Social Sciences DRNTU::Social sciences::Economic theory Language, a tool of communication in everyday life, has been extensively explored in the field of sociolinguistics and psycholinguistics. However, the minor yet significant impact of variations in linguistic elements on the perceptions of the human mind is not extensively explored in the field of economics. Specifically, there are little researches that examine the effect of language use on individual’s attitude towards risks. Thus, this report aims to identify how linguistic variables affect risk preferences through self-reference effect. This was done through a 10-decision-making lottery- task experiment by utilising three personal pronoun treatments, namely first-person “I”, second- person “You”, and absence of pronoun “No Pronoun”. The Mann-Whitney U test results and OLS regression analysis showed that subjects in “I” treatment made more Safe decisions as compared to their counterparts in “You” or “No Pronoun” treatment. The self-reference effect of pronouns is the also the strongest for “I” followed by “You”, whereas “No Pronoun” has the weakest self-reference effect. The findings have implications for the government in addressing issues of the society by influencing desirable behaviours. Bachelor of Arts 2017-04-10T05:06:30Z 2017-04-10T05:06:30Z 2017 Final Year Project (FYP) http://hdl.handle.net/10356/70040 en Nanyang Technological University 30 p. application/pdf
institution Nanyang Technological University
building NTU Library
country Singapore
collection DR-NTU
language English
topic DRNTU::Social sciences::Economic theory
spellingShingle DRNTU::Social sciences::Economic theory
Chan, Shi Jun
Chia, Shan Ai
Heng, Zhi Hao
The effect of self-referencing on risk behaviours : evidence from Amazon mechanical turk
description Language, a tool of communication in everyday life, has been extensively explored in the field of sociolinguistics and psycholinguistics. However, the minor yet significant impact of variations in linguistic elements on the perceptions of the human mind is not extensively explored in the field of economics. Specifically, there are little researches that examine the effect of language use on individual’s attitude towards risks. Thus, this report aims to identify how linguistic variables affect risk preferences through self-reference effect. This was done through a 10-decision-making lottery- task experiment by utilising three personal pronoun treatments, namely first-person “I”, second- person “You”, and absence of pronoun “No Pronoun”. The Mann-Whitney U test results and OLS regression analysis showed that subjects in “I” treatment made more Safe decisions as compared to their counterparts in “You” or “No Pronoun” treatment. The self-reference effect of pronouns is the also the strongest for “I” followed by “You”, whereas “No Pronoun” has the weakest self-reference effect. The findings have implications for the government in addressing issues of the society by influencing desirable behaviours.
author2 He Tai-sen
author_facet He Tai-sen
Chan, Shi Jun
Chia, Shan Ai
Heng, Zhi Hao
format Final Year Project
author Chan, Shi Jun
Chia, Shan Ai
Heng, Zhi Hao
author_sort Chan, Shi Jun
title The effect of self-referencing on risk behaviours : evidence from Amazon mechanical turk
title_short The effect of self-referencing on risk behaviours : evidence from Amazon mechanical turk
title_full The effect of self-referencing on risk behaviours : evidence from Amazon mechanical turk
title_fullStr The effect of self-referencing on risk behaviours : evidence from Amazon mechanical turk
title_full_unstemmed The effect of self-referencing on risk behaviours : evidence from Amazon mechanical turk
title_sort effect of self-referencing on risk behaviours : evidence from amazon mechanical turk
publishDate 2017
url http://hdl.handle.net/10356/70040
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