Fedrigo, Virginia, Guenther, Benno, Jenkins, Rob orcid.org/0000-0003-4793-0435 et al. (2 more authors) (2023) Weakened weekdays:lockdown disrupts the weekly cycle of risk tolerance. Scientific reports. 21147. ISSN 2045-2322
Abstract
Risk tolerance decreases from Monday to Thursday and increases on Friday. Antecedents of this weekly risk cycle are difficult to investigate experimentally as manipulating the seven-day cycle is impractical. Here we used temporal disorientation during the UK COVID-19 lockdown to conduct a natural experiment. In two studies, we measured responses to risk in participants with either a strong or weak sense of weekday, after either a short or long period of disruption to their weekly routine by lockdown. In Study 1 (N = 864), the weekly risk cycle was consistent in risk attitude measures specifically to participants who reported a strong sense of weekday. In Study 2 (N = 829), the weekly risk cycle was abolished, even for participants who retained a strong sense of weekday. We propose that two factors sustain the weekly risk cycle. If the sense of weekday is lacking, then weekday will have little effect because the current day is not salient. If weekday associations decay, then weekday will have little effect because the current day is not meaningful. The weekly risk cycle is strong and consistent when (i) sense of weekday is robust and (ii) weekday associations are maintained.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | Funding Information: The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support from a British Academy Mid-Career Fellowship (MD19\190023) to R.J., from a Leverhulme Trust Research Fellowship (RF-2020-448\10) to R.J., and from the Research Infrastructure and Investment Fund (RIIF) from the (University Department) to M.M.G. and J.G.S. Publisher Copyright: © 2023, The Author(s). |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of York |
Academic Units: | The University of York > Faculty of Sciences (York) > Psychology (York) The University of York > Faculty of Social Sciences (York) > Economics and Related Studies (York) |
Depositing User: | Pure (York) |
Date Deposited: | 15 Dec 2023 14:10 |
Last Modified: | 22 Nov 2024 00:45 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-48395-9 |
Status: | Published |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1038/s41598-023-48395-9 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:206679 |