Hedging in decision making in disorders of the impulsive-compulsive spectrum
Abstract
This dissertation comprises three studies that investigated the construct of hedging as a decision making strategy in individuals with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Hedging refers to the tendency to keep options available when there is a threat of loss of the options that is motivated by the underlying construct of loss aversion (i.e., Prospect Theory). Hedging introduces a behavioural economic approach to the study and understanding of the impact of loss aversion on decision making. Participants played two conditions of the Doors Game (Shin & Ariely, 2004) in which they were instructed to maximize their earnings by tapping three doors in any order: i) constant availability (CA), where all doors remain available; and ii) decreasing availability (DA), where doors fade and disappear if left untapped after a short time (to elicit hedging). In Study One, undergraduates (N = 108) played both the CA and DA conditions and evidence indicates more frequent switching in the DA than the CA condition. There was also a significant negative association between hedging and the cognitive concern subscale of anxiety sensitivity. Study Two examined other psychological correlates of hedging in another undergraduate sample (N = 63) and yielded significant negative associations with the physical component of state anxiety and experience seeking. In Study Three, the results of a comparison of hedging among OCD, Gambling Disorder (GD), and Healthy Control (HC) groups yielded no significant…
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