Stake Size Effect on Risk Attitudes Under Hypothetical Conditions

One difference between economics experiments and psychology experiments is whether or not paying subjects salient rewards. Some studies only found the stake size effect on risk attitudes in the experiments with salient pays but no such effect in those with small fixed pays. This study examined whether risk attitudes vary with stake size under hypothetical conditions. Subjects' responses to different hypothetical lottery questions were compared. According to the related theories about the influence of not enough monetary reward on intrinsic altruistic incentive, low real payments by cash commonly used by previous experiments were replaced by small gifts in this experiment. Significant differences in risk attitudes were observed between the two treatments in one sample. These results suggest that stake size matters under hypothetical conditions when changing the rewarding method