Impact of Audio and Video Narratives Describing Financial Successes and Failures on Risk-Taking in the Balloon Analogue Risk Task

Narratives can influence risk-taking by shaping perceptions and emotions. In the present study we used first-person audio and video narratives describing either financial successes, failures, or neutral events devoid of any risk references in order to investigate how these types of stimuli affect risk-taking performance in the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART). Audio narratives of different types did not significantly alter risk-taking in the BART. However, videos depicting neutral narratives and narratives about financial successes surprisingly had risk-demoting influence compared to videos about financial failures, indexed by the percentage of popped balloons. The underlying reason for this finding remains to be understood. Additionally, gender differences emerged by the adjusted pumps measure in interaction with stimuli condition. Specifically, female participants displayed riskier tendencies after audio narratives, and conversely, video narratives led to a slight increase in risk-taking among male participants. These results emphasize the significant role of stimuli modality and indexing measures in risk-related studies.