PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

'Lady luck' - Does anthropomorphized luck drive risky financial behavior?

2021-06-23
(Press-News.org) A new study published in the Journal of the Association for Consumer Research posits that increased accessibility to anthropomorphized luck (i.e., "lady luck") can lead consumers to be more likely to pursue higher-risk financial behavior. In "Lady Luck: Anthropomorphized Luck Creates Perceptions of Risk-Sharing and Drives Pursuit of Risky Alternatives," authors Katina Kulow, Thomas Kramer, and Kara Bentley propose that preferences for higher-risk options (like lottery tickets with worse odds or investment opportunities with a low chance of return) are driven by shared risk perceptions that might engender feelings of security provided by the idea of "lady luck." This behavior, the authors note, "bodes ill for consumer welfare, given that many financial maladaptive activities arise from repeated behaviors."

In four experiments, the authors conducted regression and spotlight analyses on data from studies involving MTurk panelists and undergraduate students who completed online studies that involved financial risk decisions like a lottery or startup investments and various risk perceptions. While the authors find increased preferences for higher-risk alternatives when consumers anthropomorphize luck for financial decisions, when given the opportunity to gamble on social versus financial capital, participants indicated that consumers might perceive that they have more control over outcomes and feel less in need of the security provided by an anthropomorphized entity.

The results hold public policy implications, such as whether marketers may be required to qualify references to anthropomorphized luck, particularly when consumers may be vulnerable to taking undue financial risks, such as in gambling establishments. For example, the research suggests that a sign in a casino insinuating that 'Lady Luck is on Your Side' could lead gamblers to engage in higher-risk behaviors than a sign that merely suggests that "Luck is on Your Side" or "Good Luck." Limiting the use of "lady luck" on lottery scratch-off tickets could prevent devastating financial losses among lower socioeconomic status consumers.

INFORMATION:



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

People willing to pay more for coffee that's ethical and eco-friendly, meta-analysis finds

2021-06-23
Beyond how much cream and sugar to add to their morning brew, coffee lovers also face more serious decisions: one of those is whether or not to buy ecolabelled coffee, which advertises itself as more ethical and environmentally friendly. But whether customers are willing to pay the extra price for these perks remains an unanswered question. In a study publishing in the journal Heliyon on June 23, researchers combined data from 22 studies to conclude that in general, people are willing to pay $1.36 more for a pound of coffee that's produced in an eco-friendly way and are especially partial to coffee that's labelled "Organic." "We hear in the media or sometimes read in the newspaper that there ...

Low-cost imaging technique shows how smartphone batteries could charge in minutes

2021-06-23
Researchers have developed a simple lab-based technique that allows them to look inside lithium-ion batteries and follow lithium ions moving in real time as the batteries charge and discharge, something which has not been possible until now. Using the low-cost technique, the researchers identified the speed-limiting processes which, if addressed, could enable the batteries in most smartphones and laptops to charge in as little as five minutes. The researchers, from the University of Cambridge, say their technique will not only help improve existing battery materials, ...

Pleistocene sediment DNA from Denisova Cave

Pleistocene sediment DNA from Denisova Cave
2021-06-23
Denisova Cave is located in the Altai Mountains in southern Siberia and is famous for the discovery of Denisovans, an extinct form of archaic humans that is thought to have occupied large parts of central and eastern Asia. Neandertal remains have also been found at the site, as well as a bone from a child who had a Neandertal mother and Denisovan father, showing that both groups met in the region. However, only eight bone fragments and teeth of Neandertals and Denisovans have been recovered so far from the deposits in Denisova Cave, which cover ...

Quantum birds

Quantum birds
2021-06-23
Humans perceive the world around them with five senses - vision, hearing, taste, smell and touch. Many other animals are also able to sense the Earth's magnetic field. For some time, a collaboration of biologists, chemists and physicists centred at the Universities of Oldenburg (Germany) and Oxford (UK) have been gathering evidence suggesting that the magnetic sense of migratory birds such as European robins is based on a specific light-sensitive protein in the eye. In the current edition of the journal Nature, this team demonstrate that the protein cryptochrome 4, found in birds' retinas, is sensitive to magnetic fields and could well be the long-sought magnetic sensor. First ...

Antibody therapy rescues mice from lethal nerve-muscle disease

2021-06-23
Researchers rescued mice from early death caused by a muscle-weakening disease, not by correcting the flawed gene that causes it, but instead by targeting another protein in the same signaling pathway. Led by NYU Grossman School of Medicine researchers, a new study found that an antibody treatment not only rescued young mice from a form of congenital myasthenia (CM) but also reversed disease relapse in adult mice. Published online in the journal Nature on June 23, the study revealed new details of the cause of CM, with the better understanding guiding ...

Life in these star-systems could have spotted Earth

2021-06-23
ITHACA, N.Y. - Scientists at Cornell University and the American Museum of Natural History have identified 2,034 nearby star-systems - within the small cosmic distance of 326 light-years - that could find Earth merely by watching our pale blue dot cross our sun. That's 1,715 star-systems that could have spotted Earth since human civilization blossomed about 5,000 years ago, and 319 more star-systems that will be added over the next 5,000 years. Exoplanets around these nearby stars have a cosmic front-row seat to see if Earth holds life, the scientists said in research published June 23 in Nature. "From the exoplanets' point-of-view, we are the aliens," said Lisa Kaltenegger, professor of astronomy and director of Cornell's Carl Sagan ...

Cutaneous reactions after mRNA COVID-19 vaccines

2021-06-23
What The Study Did: Hospital employees were surveyed about symptoms such as a rash, itching, hives or swelling around the face after receiving a messenger RNA COVID-19 vaccine. Authors: Lacey B. Robinson, M.D., M.P.H., of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, is the corresponding author. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamadermatol.2021.2114) Editor's Note: The article includes conflicts of interest and funding/support disclosures. Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, ...

Skin reactions after COVID-19 vaccination: Rare, uncommonly recur after second dose

2021-06-23
BOSTON - Skin problems such as itchiness, rashes, hives and swelling can occur in some individuals after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine, but it's not clear how common these reactions are or how frequently they recur with a subsequent vaccination. Research by led by allergists at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) now provides encouraging indications that the reactions are rare, and that even when they do occur with an initial COVID-19 vaccination, they seldom recur after receiving a second vaccine dose. For the study, which is published in JAMA Dermatology, a team led by Kimberly G. Blumenthal, MD, MSc, co-director of the Clinical Epidemiology Program within MGH's ...

Mask mandates and COVID-19 case rates, hospitalizations, deaths in Kansas

2021-06-23
What The Study Did: Researchers investigated the association between counties that adopted state mask mandates in Kansas with COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths. Authors: Donna K. Ginther, Ph.D., of the University of Kansas in Lawrence, is the corresponding author. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.14514) Editor's Note: The article includes funding/support disclosures. Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions ...

Changes in physician work Hours, patterns during COVID-19

2021-06-23
What The Study Did: The hours worked and patterns of work activities among U.S. physicians before and during the COVID-19 pandemic were examined in this study. Authors: Xiaochu Hu, Ph.D., of the Association of American Medical Colleges in Washington, D.C., is the corresponding author. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.14386) Editor's Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, conflict ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

The most effective diabetes drugs don't reach enough patients yet

Breast cancer risk in younger women may be influenced by hormone therapy

Strategies for staying smoke-free after rehab

Commentary questions the potential benefit of levothyroxine treatment of mild hypothyroidism during pregnancy

Study projects over 14 million preventable deaths by 2030 if USAID defunding continues

New study reveals 33% gap in transplant access for UK’s poorest children

Dysregulated epigenetic memory in early embryos offers new clues to the inheritance of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)

IVF and IUI pregnancy rates remain stable across Europe, despite an increasing uptake of single embryo transfer

It takes a village: Chimpanzee babies do better when their moms have social connections

From lab to market: how renewable polymers could transform medicine

Striking increase in obesity observed among youth between 2011 and 2023

No evidence that medications trigger microscopic colitis in older adults

NYUAD researchers find link between brain growth and mental health disorders

Aging-related inflammation is not universal across human populations, new study finds

University of Oregon to create national children’s mental health center with $11 million federal grant

Rare achievement: UTA undergrad publishes research

Fact or fiction? The ADHD info dilemma

Genetic ancestry linked to risk of severe dengue

Genomes reveal the Norwegian lemming as one of the youngest mammal species

Early birds get the burn: Monash study finds early bedtimes associated with more physical activity

Groundbreaking analysis provides day-by-day insight into prehistoric plankton’s capacity for change

Southern Ocean saltier, hotter and losing ice fast as decades-long trend unexpectedly reverses

Human fishing reshaped Caribbean reef food webs, 7000-year old exposed fossilized reefs reveal

Killer whales, kind gestures: Orcas offer food to humans in the wild

Hurricane ecology research reveals critical vulnerabilities of coastal ecosystems

Montana State geologist’s Antarctic research focuses on accumulations of rare earth elements

Groundbreaking cancer therapy clinical trial with US Department of Energy’s accelerator-produced actinium-225 set to begin this summer

Tens of thousands of heart attacks and strokes could be avoided each year if cholesterol-lowering drugs were used according to guidelines

Leading cancer and metabolic disease expert Michael Karin joins Sanford Burnham Prebys

Low-intensity brain stimulation may restore neuron health in Alzheimer's disease

[Press-News.org] 'Lady luck' - Does anthropomorphized luck drive risky financial behavior?