Devil's Task (aka Slovic's Risk Task)

Slovic, P. (1966). Risk-taking in children: Age and sex differences. Child Development, 37(1), 169-176.doi:10.2307/1126437


Table of Contents

Description

History of Use

References

Description:

Purpose
The Devil's Task was designed to assess risk preferences through choices made in a switch-pulling game.
Questions
Participants play one or more trials in a switch-pulling game. Each trial has 10 small knife switches. Ps may pull as many switches as they want.
  • 9 switches are safe switches. Each safe switch is worth one spoonful of M&Ms.
  • 1 switch is the disaster switch. The disaster switch sounds a buzzer, ends the trial, and takes away all winnings from the trial.
Sub-scales
N/A
Domain

Psychometrics

Sample items
Ps choose between:
  • Pull a switch
  • End trial

References:

Scale:
Slovic, P. (1966). Risk-taking in children: Age and sex differences. Child Development, 37(1), 169-176.doi:10.2307/1126437
Uses:
  • Hoffrage, U., Weber, A., Hertwig, R., & Chase, V. M. (2003). How to keep children safe in traffic: Find the daredevils early. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 9(4), 249-260. doi: 10.1037/1076-898X.9.4.249

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