If You Don't Have Hope, You're More Likely to Take Risk

 It's been hard to have hope during this time of illness and death.  But having hope for the future could protect people from risky behaviours such as drinking and gambling - according to new research from the University of East Anglia, newswise.com reports.

Researchers studied 'relative deprivation' - the feeling that other people have things better than you in life.

They wanted to find out why only some people experiencing this turn to escapist and risky behaviours such as drinking alcohol, taking drugs, over-eating or gambling, while others do not.

And they found that the answer lies in hope.

Postgraduate researcher Shahriar Keshavarz, from UEA's School of Psychology, is quoted at the web site, saying: "I think most people have experienced relative deprivation at some point in their lives. It's that feeling of being unhappy with your lot, the belief that your situation is worse than others, that other people are doing better than you.

"Roosevelt famously said that 'comparison is the thief of joy'. It's that feeling you have when a friend buys a new car, or your sister gets married, or a colleague finds a better job or has a better income," he adds. Relative deprivation can trigger negative emotions like anger and resentment, and it has been associated with poor coping strategies like risk taking, drinking, taking drugs or gambling, he points out.

"But not everyone scoring high on measures of relative deprivation makes these poor life choices. We wanted to find out why some people seem to cope better, or even use the experience to their advantage to improve their own situation," he continues. "There is a lot of evidence to show that remaining hopeful in the face of adversity can be advantageous, so we wanted to see if hope can help people feel happier with their lot and buffer against risky behaviours."

The research team carried out two lab-based experiments with 55 volunteers. The volunteers were quizzed to find out how much they feel relative deprivation and hope, newswise explains.

"The researchers also induced feelings of relative deprivation in the volunteers, by telling them how deprived they were compared to their peers, based on a questionnaire about their family income, age and gender.  They then took part in specially designed gambling games that involved risk-taking and placing bets with a chance to win real money," the web site adds.

Dr Piers Fleming, also from UEA's School of Psychology, notes: "The aim of this part of the study was to see whether feeling relatively deprived - elicited by the knowledge that one has less income than similar others - causes greater risk-taking among low-hopers and decreased risk-taking among high-hopers.

"We looked at the people who scored high for relative deprivation, the ones that thought their situation in life was worse than those around them. And we looked at those who also scored high for hope.," he went on. "We found that the volunteers who scored high for hope, were much less likely to take risks in the game. Those who weren't too hopeful, were a lot more likely to take risks."

Another study looked at whether hope helped in real life.  "When we looked at these scores compared to scores for hope and relative deprivation, we found that increased hope was associated with a decreased likelihood of losing control of gambling behaviour - even in those who experienced relative deprivation.

"Interestingly, our study found no significant relation between hope and gambling severity among relatively privileged persons. We don't know why this is, but it could be that they are gambling recreationally or better able to stop when the fun stops."

The research team say that nurturing hope in people who are unhappy with their lot could protect against harmful behaviours like drinking and gambling.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Opposites Attract? Yes, But For a Surprising Reason

We've known this for a long time. Opposites attract .  More about my husband later.  But a new study says that, besides from attracting each other, they can make some good decisions together. According to newswise.com, o pposites may attract and drive each other a little crazy, but, together, they can make satisfactory decisions despite their divergent attitudes, says a Boston College researcher who led a study that explored how selfish and altruistic consumers join in decision making. Consumers routinely make joint decisions with others - which restaurant to eat in, what movie to watch, or where to go on vacation. Researchers from Boston College, Georgia Tech, and Washington State University wanted to see if people with opposite attitudes could come to satisfactory decisions together, the web site reports. "The studies found that when paired with a selfish partner, it is better to behave altruistically rather than selfishly," newswise notes. "Similarly, when...
Read more

Want to be a Better Boss? Play with Your Kids

 It may be hard to believe, in these hours when we're yelling at our kids to do their homework, stop fighting with each other and get out from underfoot while they're "hybrid" learning.  But a new study has found that, if you can interact peaceably with your kids, it may make you a better boss . According to newswise.com, new research from the University of Georg ia found that "positive interactions with your child during your off hours can make you a better leader." The study examined two samples of 46 and 113 managers, measuring whether participants had experienced positive interactions with their families—such as working together on a project or laughing together, each day after work. The study also looked at whether participants felt connected to their family and satisfied with their family life in general. "The researchers also analyzed leadership practices , asking participants how often they engaged in behaviors such as making sure employees know...
Read more

Don't Practice Before You Speak: Your Memory Deficit May Make You Miss Your Boss' Signal to Stop

How many times have you rehearsed telling your partner bad news?  Honey, I rammed the car through the beauty shop window.  But no one was hurt! Now a new study says that anticipating  performance before a school or work presentation can cause you not to remember what happened before the event. So who cares?  According to newswise.com,  "Performance anticipation could weaken memory because people tend to focus on the details of their upcoming presentation instead of paying attention to information that occurs before their performance," says lead author Noah Forrin, a postdoctoral fellow in Psychology at Waterloo.   "People who experience performance anxiety may be particularly likely to experience this phenomenon." Building on what previous research called the next-in-line effect , Forrin and his co-authors explored how different ways of preparing for a presentation can have an impact on the " pre-performance memory deficit, " the web site report...
Read more