On the Psychology of the Relation between Optimism and Risk Taking

This is evident from comparing the R2 of the regressions in models () to (), in which we successively regress the general risk question on one of the focus questions and the set of control variables (R2 = 0.41 for model () and R2 = 0.03, R2 = 0.09 and R2 = 0.12, respectively, for models () to ()). [...] To check whether the relationship between dispositional optimism and will- ingness to take risk is indeedmediated by attention and focusing, we compare the size of the coefficient on the SOP optimismmeasure in different regressions on the general risk question (Table ). [...] Whenwe include both the optimismmeasure and the general risk question in the regression (model ()), the coefficient on the optimismmeasure is smaller and not statistically significant. [...] Finally, whenwe include both the optimismmeasure and the general risk ques- tion (models () and ()), the coefficients on optimism are reduced, similar to the regressions reported in Table , indicating that the general risk question is also partly capturing the optimism component. [...] These findings parallel with the association between optimism and the focus questions in the realm of the general risk question.