Neil Rob Neil

Neil
Oh wow, bungee jumping. You'd never catch me doing that. Did you enjoy it?
Rob
Not really, no. I won't do it again!
Neil
OK, well today our topic is risk and how different people react to different levels of risk in different
ways. For example, would you be happy to be in a driverless car?
Rob
Absolutely not! No, I don't trust anybody's driving - even a computer. So no, I wouldn't go in a driverless
car.
Neil
OK, I won't offer you a lift! Driverless cars are the topic of today's quiz. The question is: When was the
first driverless car demonstrated on a public road? Was it:
a) 1970s
b) 1950s
c) 1920s
Rob
I think they are quite modern, so I'm going to say 1970s.
Neil
OK, well we'll find out if you're right at the end of the programme. Joe Kable is an Associate Professor
of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. In a recent BBC science programme, All in the Mind,
he talked about the psychology of risk and whether there was anything physically in our brains that
could predict how much risk we are prepared to accept. Here he is, first talking about a number of
different ways people see risk. How many different types does he describe?
Joe Kable, Associate Professor of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania

Some people are quite risk-averse and really don't want to take any decisions where there's risk
involved at all, whereas others are fairly risk-tolerant and in some cases even risk-seeking so they
seek out decisions that have an aspect of risk to them.
Neil
How many different types of people did he mention, when it comes to attitudes to risk?
Rob
Well, there were three. The first group was those who are risk-averse. If you are averse to something,
you are against it, you don't like it. So risk-averse people don't like to take risks.
Neil
The second group are those who are risk-tolerant.If you are tolerant of something, you accept it, you
don't mind it, it's not a problem for you. So someone who is risk-tolerantis not worried by an element
of risk in what they choose to do.
Rob
The third group he mentioned are those who are risk-seeking. If you seek something, you actively look
for it, you try to find it. So risk seekers are those who enjoy risk and want to take risks in their life.
Neil
Associate Professor Kable carried out research on risk-taking and discovered that there were
differences in brain structure and the way parts of the brain worked together between those who are
risk-averse and those who are risk-tolerant or risk seekers.
Rob
So it seems as if this is something that could be measured. You could put someone in a brain scanner
and tell if they like risk or not. I wonder how useful that would be though – is there any practical
application for this knowledge?
Neil
Good question and one that was put to Kable. What area does he say this could be applied to?
Joe Kable
Definitely something that I can see coming out of this is using these associations to help develop
better assessments of who's likely to take risks versus not. This is exactly the thing that financial
advisors want to assess when you come to them and say 'I want to put my money away for
retirement'. Exactly the aspect of your personality that they want to know is what's your tolerance for
taking risk?
Neil
In which area does he say knowledge of someone's attitude to risk might be useful?
Rob
Financial planning. He says that financial advisors, who are people that give advice on what to do with
our money, would find this information very useful. It would help them to assess what to do with your
money, which means it would help them to decide, to make an intelligent decision about your money in
certain situations.
Neil
For example if you are planning for your retirement. Retirement is the time when are able to or you
have to stop working.
Rob
He also used an interesting expression there, to put your money away, which means 'save your
money', 'put it somewhere where you can't spend it and where it can grow'. You know I think my
financial planner could just ask me about how I feel about risk rather than giving me a brain scan. I
heard brain scans can be risky!
Neil
Mmm, not sure that's true but anyway, what is true is the answer to this week's quiz question. I asked
you when the first driverless car was demonstrated on a public road. The options were a) the 1970s,
b) the1950s and c) the 1920s. What did you say Rob?
Rob
I said the 1970s.
Neil
And you were wrong, I'm afraid. Apparently it was the 1920s, so a long time ago. Well done if you got
that right. Now before we drive off into the sunset, let's recap today's vocabulary.
Rob
Yes right, first we had three words describing different attitudes to risk. There was risk-averse, for
people who don't like risk.
Neil
People who don't mind risk are risk-tolerant.
Rob
And people who like risk and want risk are risk seekers.
Neil
Next we had the verb to assess. This means 'to make a judgement or a decision based on
information'.
Rob
A phrase meaning 'to save money' is to put money away.
Neil
And finally we had retirement. That time of life when you are too old to work anymore or you have
enough money that you don't need to work anymore. Are you looking forward to your retirement Rob?
Rob
Cheeky. I'm neither old enough nor rich enough to even think about that Neil.
Neil
Same here. Well that's all from us today, and you don't have to be a risk seeker to find us on Facebook,
Twitter, Instagram and YouTube, and of course on our website bbclearningenglish.com! Thank you for
joining us and goodbye.
Rob
Bye!

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Joe Kable, Associate Professor of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania

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