Risk Attitudes Profiler

Your success in life depends, to a large extent, on whether your activities suit your character and your personality. In order to succeed in life, you must determine what you should do and what you should avoid doing. For this you must first know yourself. This is difficult to achieve by subjective self-analysis as people tend to see a biased picture of themselves: we often unconsciously attribute to ourselves desirable qualities instead of those actually present and confuse unimportant features of our personality with those that really determine our inclinations, abilities and style of behavior. The Risk Attitudes Profiler determines the strength of expression of mutually opposed psychological qualities and the relationships between them: on one hand, aspiration for emotional order, peace and safety and on the other, aspiration for "kicks", risk and activity. The proportion of the strengths of these aspirations determines the character of a person and the style of his behavior in life. These two psychological features form the basis of many other personal qualities and are of a fundamental nature, as they stem directly from physiological functions of the brain. Striving for a condition of comfort and peace (absence of danger) is intrinsic to all humans and animals. Animals arrive at this state when all their life needs are met and nothing threatens them. When there is danger, animals receive signals from special neuron formations in the brain - the socalled centers of negative emotions - which produce feelings of discomfort (hunger, cold, etc.) and emotions of anxiety and fear. An animal's center of negative emotions, or suffering, functions continuously as animals always have to worry about food, shelter, safety, etc. In humans, who usually live in an artificially-created comfort environment, these neuron formations, or centers, do not find adequate application most of the time. However, any physiological system requires a corresponding activity. Insufficient activity of the "center of suffering" compels a person, through certain physiological mechanisms, to actions that are associated with "kicks". Demand for such feelings is expressed differently in different people - from a desire to experience a thrill to thirst for situations and actions associated with risk that can sometimes be life-threatening or lead to antisocial behavior. But as the urge for an emotionally negative feeling, such as danger, is irrational and objectively pointless, it is subconsciously transformed into thirst for something that subjectively makes sense and is expedient (for example, striving for wealth, glory, power, etc.). Demands raised by the centers of negative emotions determine the behavior of a person in society, his drive to succeed, his ability to dare and to overcome obstacles; but the same demands can also lead to dangerous activities and, with persons of a low moral and ethical level, to antisocial and criminal behavior. The strength of expression and the proportion between the two aspirations - for peace, stability and safety on the one hand, and for negative feelings ("thrills") on the other hand differ in everyone. Manifestation of these subconscious demands depends also on the objective conditions under which people of different personality types behave. These demands, in the context of other personal qualities, to a large extent determine the individual's system of behavior in varying circumstances and, in the end, the direction of his life. With the help of this test, you can begin to understand these subconscious demands in yourself. This understanding will weaken the impact of their negative aspects on your personality and strengthen the impact of the positive ones. Such self-knowledge will help you to realize your potential and avoid many mistakes in shaping your future. Results of the test are presented as three blocks. The first block describes the risk balance in terms of the Risk Attitude Index. The Risk Attitude Index is determined as the difference between aspiration for risk and aspiration for safety and stability. This index ranges from 0% to 100% with a mean at 53%.

Values of the Risk Attitude Index over 85% are typical for people who tend to engage in very risky behavior. Values of the Risk Attitude index below 35% usually mean that the person has increased aspiration for safety and stability.