Lecture
Two groups of factors regulating human behavior in risk situations have been identified: objective and subjective. Objective factors of human life activity carry a certain probability of the occurrence of various events, independent of the subject. "The objectivity of risk is also manifest in the fact that this concept reflects phenomena, processes, and aspects of activity that actually exist in social life. Moreover, risk exists regardless of whether its presence is recognized or not, taken into account or ignored" . Subjectivity is manifested above all in the subject's differing perception of the degree of risk, which is due to individual characteristics of how a person reflects the corresponding situation. In the course of activity, the subject must choose among several alternatives, estimate the probability of their resolution, and compare them with his or her own characteristics, interests, and the positions of other people. At each stage in the development of risk, the situation is analyzed and the activity is adjusted, along with a change of goal, the plan for achieving it, and the criteria for the expected result.
Risk exists within certain time limits. Going beyond these limits gives rise to activity that is premature, belated, or meaningless. Time influences the processes of perception and decision-making. Time pressure changes the strategy of information gathering, as a result of which the number of hypotheses and the quality of risk-reduction strategies are reduced to a minimum, and the probability of adverse consequences increases. Often less important data determine the subject's behavior, while significant elements are overlooked.
With respect to the time needed to obtain the desired result, situations of risk are divided into short-term and long-term ones. In the case of short-term exposure to a risk factor, perception, understanding of the situation, and decision-making occur within a small interval of time and are assessed immediately through analysis of the quality of the result obtained. More prolonged exposure to a risk factor is characterized by a delay in obtaining the desired result, a restructuring of the subject's activity, a search for the features and patterns of the activity, and the formation of its goals, tasks, and implementation programs. The subject's presence in a prolonged risk situation, and merging with it, alters the perception of time. Conditions of risk, especially those of long duration, absorb and attract individuals to such an extent that they are prepared to forgo sleep, food, and material or social compensation for their sake.
The leading motives of activity in a risk situation are the motives of achieving success and avoiding failure. An individual motivated for success seeks out activity and selects means aimed at achieving the set goal. The subject's choice of goal is determined by a subjective, or less often objective, assessment of the probability of failure and the magnitude of the possible consequences. A more desirable goal is associated with a greater degree of risk and the possibility of loss. Achieving the goal is accompanied by elements of danger, failure, and physical or moral losses awaiting the subject as a result of the choice made, along with a lack of confidence in its realization. The individual has the option of choosing a goal of varying difficulty. The complexity of the goal depends on the level of aspiration, self-esteem, and risk propensity.
For a certain category of individuals, risk is attractive. A persistent interest in risky situations can be seen in them in any sphere of life: professional, everyday, leisure, and so on.
Situations of justified risk require non-standard solutions based on the integration of the individual's past experience with the objective and subjective factors of the environment. Subjects prone to risk possess a number of personality traits that condition the acceptance, modeling, and implementation of risk. They are able to notice, combine, and carry out a risky way of solving a given problem, know how to pose questions, question truths that seem obvious at first glance, and show persistence in achieving their goal.
As a personality trait, a propensity for justified risk presupposes that a person has an independent position and combines boldness with the ability to realistically assess the situation. Individuals who take risks have a high level of self-control, faith in their own abilities, and high adaptive capacities. They are distinguished by the independence of their judgments and actions from the opinions of other people. They show interest in conditions that are complex, containing elements of novelty and uncertainty, and in situations that require unconventional approaches and are accompanied by the danger of implementation. In solving the tasks before them, they use unexpected elements, finding an original way of achieving the goal. The processes of synthesis, combination, and finding the safest ways of acting, and the risky activity itself, bring these subjects a peculiar pleasure in releasing their creative potential and satisfying the need for self-actualization.
Situations involving elements of risk affect a subject's psyche in different ways: some of them activate activity and the flow of mental processes, while others lead to the opposite result. Among the main stress-inducing factors are: time pressure, information overload, interference, and threats. Under the influence of risk factors, some individuals show a disturbance of mental function. People set themselves complex, global tasks without tracing the step-by-step structure for obtaining the planned result. Such tactics increase the probability of an unfavorable outcome.
In a situation of heightened risk carrying a threat to human life and health, specific emotional and other mental states arise that negatively affect the process by which the image is formed and functions. Owing to an inadequate reflection of the situation, an effective resolution of it may be a matter of chance. The Russian psychologist B. F. Lomov wrote that "...a person makes a decision not on the basis of weighing the probabilities of possible events and determining the magnitude of risk and utility, but under the influence of emotional states and impulsiveness" .
Russian researchers (N. A. Nosov, M. I. Dyachenko, N. A. Kandybovich, V. A. Ponomarenko, and others) have shown that instructions for acting in non-standard conditions often limit the number of alternative solutions, narrow the individual's options, and reduce the number of possible combinations. Behavioral principles and general solutions that were effective in the past, when stereotypically transferred to changed conditions, can lead to failure. It is impossible to teach algorithms for action in extreme conditions in advance, since a change in even a single element, or a combination of different circumstances, necessitates a change in behavioral strategy.
When considering the influence of the control factor on the process and outcome of activity in a problem situation, it is necessary to take into account the motivational basis of the activity. A subject's creation of an outwardly unmotivated risky situation is often driven by a desire to expand the boundaries of personal freedom. The leading motivating force that draws people to such situations is risk as a means of self-realization, as one of the ways of creativity, of freeing oneself from the pressure of the social environment, and of gaining one's own control over the situation.
Risk becomes a means of ridding oneself of internal and external constraints, of satisfying the need for self-actualization, and of expressing originality — a way of obtaining emotional and physiological pleasure. In risk situations, the sense of excitement, exhilaration, and satisfaction is most often produced not by the result but by the process itself.
A high level of social control under conditions of risk reduces the effectiveness of activity and increases the probability of an unfavorable outcome by raising the degree of risk, leading a person to create unjustified risky situations. The frequency with which unmotivated risk is taken can serve as an indicator of the actualization and fulfillment of a person's need for autonomy, and of a weakening of external or personal control over the situation.
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Questions for discussion
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