Entrepreneurial Risk Taking Is Related to Mental Imagery: A Fresh Look at the Old Issue of Entrepreneurship and Risk

Mental imagery shapes emotions in people's decisions related to risk taking

This research investigates the specific effects of mental imagery on people's emotional responses and risk-taking decisions. We present findings across four studies, including three experiments, that highlight emotions as a mediator between the valence of mental images related to risk and subsequent risk-taking propensity. Our research identifies two key factors that moderate this relationship: the category of cognitive process (analytical thinking vs. visual mental imagery) and the vividness of mental imagery. In Study 1, we found an effect of the valence of mental images on the intensity of emotional reactions, which in turn were linked to risk-taking willingness. Positive imagery corresponded with stronger positive emotions and increased declared risk taking. The experimental Study 2 provided causal evidence for these associations, showing that participants positively imagining risk-related behaviors reported more intense positive feelings and a greater inclination to take risks than those imagining risk taking in a negative manner. Subsequent preregistered experiments (Studies 3 and 4) corroborated our central hypothesis that mental imagery is a distinct driver of emotional responses in risk-related decision making and showed potential boundary conditions for this effect. Study 3 emphasized that decisions influenced by mental imagery had greater emotional strength than those based on analytical reasoning. The final Study 4 demonstrated that vividness of mental imagery further moderates this effect: more vivid images led to stronger emotions, thus affecting risk-taking propensity. These results underscore the significance of emotions in decision making, particularly when decisions are based on mental imagery rather than analysis, and point to the amplifying effect of image vividness on emotional and decision-making processes.

Impact of a Scarcity Mindset on Proactive and Reactive Cognitive Control: The Role of Motivation and Cognitive Ability

Resource scarcity has been demonstrated to potentially induce a scarcity mindset in individuals, leading to a reduction in cognitive control. However, the specific facets of cognitive control affected by a scarcity mindset and the underlying mechanisms driving this effect remain not fully understood. Based on the dual mechanisms of control framework, this study examines the effects of a scarcity mindset on both proactive and reactive control (Experiment 1) and explores the underlying mechanisms (Experiment 2). Eighty-nine participants (39 in Experiment 1 and 50 in Experiment 2) were assigned to either a scarcity or neutral mindset and completed cognitive tasks while their event-related potentials (ERP) were recorded. Experiment 1 used an AX Continuous Performance Task (AX-CPT) to distinguish between proactive and reactive control. Results indicated that a scarcity mindset selectively weakened proactive control, as evidenced by weaker proactive control indicators (i.e., P3b), without affecting reactive control. In Experiment 2, we adjusted task cue availability before or after target onset in a cued-flanker task to manipulate the potential for proactive control. We found that the weakened proactive control observed in individuals with a scarcity mindset could be attributed to lowered motivation rather than impaired cognitive ability. Collectively, these findings provide valuable insights into how mindset influences cognitive control and offer promising implications for designing effective interventions to mitigate the negative impact of a scarcity mindset.

Visualizing risky situations induces a stronger neural response in brain areas associated with mental imagery and emotions than visualizing non-risky situations

In an fMRI study, we tested the prediction that visualizing risky situations induces a stronger neural response in brain areas associated with mental imagery and emotions than visualizing non-risky and more positive situations. We assumed that processing mental images that allow for "trying-out" the future has greater adaptive importance for risky than non-risky situations, because the former can generate severe negative outcomes. We identified several brain regions that were activated when participants produced images of risky situations and these regions overlap with brain areas engaged in visual, speech, and movement imagery. We also found that producing images of risky situations, in contrast to non-risky situations, was associated with increased neural activation in the insular cortex and cerebellum-the regions involved, among other functions, in emotional processing. Finally, we observed an increased BOLD signal in the cingulate gyrus associated with reward-based decision making and monitoring of decision outcomes. In summary, risky situations increased neural activation in brain areas involved in mental imagery, emotional processing, and decision making. These findings imply that the evaluation of everyday risky situations may be driven by emotional responses that result from mental imagery.

Developing and validating a Japanese version of the Plymouth Sensory Imagery Questionnaire

Mental imagery refers to the representation of stimuli that are not physically present and has long been a subject of interest in psychology. However, most research on mental imagery has been limited to visual images, with other types of imagery, such as sound and smell, receiving little attention. A possible reason for this is the lack of appropriate scales to measure the vividness of multisensory imagery. The Plymouth Sensory Imagery Scale (Psi-Q) has been developed to address this issue and has been used in several studies to measure the vividness of seven imageries: vision, sound, smell, taste, touch, body, and feeling. In this study of 400 participants in Japan, the Psi-Q was translated into Japanese and tested for reliability and validity. The results showed good internal reliability and retest reliability and moderate to high correlations with other measures of construct validity, including mindfulness, Big Five, and life satisfaction. Additionally, there is no significant difference in total Psi-Q scores between the Japanese and British samples, although some differences are found in individual sensory imagery abilities. This study provides valuable insights into multisensory mental imagery, and it is expected that research dealing simultaneously with the responses of multisensory modalities will further accumulate.

A causal link between mental imagery and affect-laden perception of climate change related risks

Previous studies have shed light on the importance of affect in risk perception and the role of mental imagery in generating affect. In the current study, we explore the causal relationship between mental imagery, affect, and risk perception by systematically varying the level of mental imagery in three levels (i.e., enhanced, spontaneous, or prevented). In light of the increasing environmental risk of adverse events caused by climate change, we operationalize risk as participants' perceived risk of climate change. One-thousand-fifty-five participants were recruited online and randomized to one of three levels of mental imagery. As predicted, we found a causal link between the level of mental imagery, affective experience, and perceived risk of climate change, in that enhanced mental imagery caused a larger decrease in positive affective valence and a larger increase in perceived risk of climate change. We argue that mental imagery enhances the negative affect associated with the risk event by creating a perceptual experience that mimics seeing the environmental risk events.

The Role of Government Financial Support Programmes, Risk-Taking Propensity, and Self-Confidence on Propensity in Business Ventures

This study identifies the effect of government financial support services (GFSS) on the relationship between two dimensions of psychological factors in business ventures. As such, the study uses small and medium enterprises (SMEs) of various Malaysian sectors as samples, with two constructs used to represent the dimensions of psychological factors, namely, risk-taking (RT) propensity and self-confidence (SC). The study results revealed that both constructs had a significant influence on the propensity to venture into business (PVB). However, GFSS had an insignificant moderating effect on the relationship between the two dimensions and provided input for policy makers to enhance GFSS efficiency in order to positively affect the growth rate of new businesses in Malaysia. Hence, this study bridged the research gap by identifying the influence of GFSS on PVB. As GFSS are an important tool for stimulating growth of the new business venture, the findings of this study have implications for policy makers to improve the quality and effectiveness, especially the delivery of GFSS to the targeted group.