How much risk are you prepared to take? 6 Minute English

Neil: Hello and welcome to 6 Minute

English, I'm Neil and joining me today is Rob.

Rob: Hello.

Neil: So Rob, what’s the most dangerous thing

you’ve ever chosen to do?

Rob: Mmm. Tricky question. I've done

many risky things but probably the most

risky thing is bungee jumping in

New Zealand.

Neil: Oh wow, bungee jumping. You'd

never catch me doing that. Did you enjoy it?

Rob: No, not really. I won't do it again!

Neil: OK, well today our topic is risk and

how different people react to different

levels of risk in different ways.

For example, would you be happy to be in a

driverless car?

Rob: Absolutely not! No, I don't trust

anybody's driving even a computer so no,

I wouldn't go in a driverless car.

Neil: OK, I won't offer you a lift! Driverless

cars are the topic of today’s quiz.

The question is: When was the first driverless

car demonstrated on a public road? Was it:

a) 1970s, b) 1950s, or c) 1920s.

Rob: I think they are quite modern, so I’m

going to say 1970s.

Neil: OK, well we’ll find out if you’re right at

the end of the programme.

Joe Kable is an Associate Professor of

Psychology at the University of

Pennsylvania. In a recent

BBC science programme, All in the Mind,

he talked about the psychology

of risk and whether there was anything

physically in our brains that could predict

how much risk we are prepared to accept.

Here he is, first talking about a number

of different ways people see risk. How

many different types does he describe?

Joe Kable: Some people are quite

risk-averse and

really don’t want to take any decisions

where there’s risk involved at all, whereas

others are fairly risk-tolerant and in some

cases even risk-seeking so, they seek out

decisions that have an aspect

of risk to them.

Neil: How many different types of people

did he mention, when it comes to

attitudes to risk?

Rob: Well there were three. The first group

was those who are risk-averse. If you are

averse to something, you are against it,

you don’t like it. So risk-averse people

don’t like to take risks.

Neil: The second group are those who are

risk-tolerant.

If you are tolerant of something, you

accept it, you don’t mind it, it’s not a

problem for you. So someone who is risk-

tolerant is not worried by an element of

risk in what they choose to do.

Rob: The third group he mentioned are

those who are risk-seeking. If you seek

something, you actively look for it,

you try to find it.

So risk seekers are those who enjoy risk

and what to take risks in their life.

Neil: Associate Professor Kable carried

out research on risk-taking and

discovered that there were

differences in brain structure and the way

parts of the brain worked together

between those who are risk-averse and

those who are risk-tolerant or

risk seekers.

Rob: So it seems as if this is something

that could be measured. You could put

someone in a brain scanner and tell if

they like risk or not.

I wonder how useful that would be though,

is there any practical application for this

knowledge?

Neil: Good question and one that was put

to Kable.

What area does he say this could be

applied to?

Joe Kable: Definitely something that I can

see coming out of this is using these

associations to help develop better

assessments of who’s likely to take risks

versus not. This is exactly the thing that

financial advisors want to assess when

you come to them and say ‘I want to put

my money away for retirement.’

Exactly the aspect of your personality that

they want to know is what’s your

tolerance for taking risk?

Neil: In which area does he say

knowledge of someone’s attitude to risk

might be useful?

Rob: Financial planning. He says that

financial advisors, who are people that

give advice on what to do with our money,

would find this information very useful.

It would help them to assess what to do

with your money, which means it would

help them to decide, to make an

intelligent decision about your money in

certain situations.

Neil: For example if you are planning for

your retirement. Retirement is the time

when are able to or you have to stop working.

Rob: He also used an interesting

expression there: to put your money away,

which means 'save your money', 'put it

somewhere where you can’t spend it and

where it can grow'.

You know I think my financial planner

could just ask me about how I feel about

risk rather than giving me a brain scan.

I heard brain scans can be risky!

Neil: Mmm, not sure that’s true but

anyway, what is true is the answer to this

week’s quiz question. I asked you when

the first driverless car was demonstrated

on a public road. The options were

a) the 1970s, b) the1950s and c) the 1920s.

What did you say Rob?

Rob: I said the 1970s.

Neil: And you were wrong I'm afraid.

Apparently it was the 1920s so a long

time ago. Well done if you got that right.

Now before we drive off into the sunset,

let’s recap today’s vocabulary.

Rob: Yes right, first we had three words

describing different attitudes to risk.

There was risk-averse, for people who

don’t like risk.

Neil: People who don’t mind risk are

risk-tolerant.

Rob: And people who like risk and want

risk are risk seekers.

Neil: Next we had the verb to assess.

This means 'to make a judgement or a

decision based on information'.

Rob: A phrase meaning 'to save money' is

to put money away.

Neil: And finally we had retirement. That

time of life when you are too old to work

anymore or you have enough money that

you don’t need to work anymore. Are you

looking forward to your retirement Rob?

Rob: Cheeky. I’m neither old enough nor

rich enough to even think about that Neil.

Neil: Same here. Well that’s all from us

today, and you don’t have to be a risk seeker

to find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram

and YouTube, and of course on our

website bbclearningenglish.com!

Thank you for joining us and goodbye.

Rob: Bye!