Planning Risk, by Personality Type

Our propensity to engage in risky behavior says a lot about who we are. While some may feel that buying a lottery ticket is too big of a gamble, others may bet everything they have without hesitation, even with the odds stacked against them.

The responses to our latest survey made this division clear, when we asked our readers whether they agreed or disagreed with the statement “You tend to take risks without thinking about consequences.” There was a significant gap between each of the trait pairings, implying that while some traits affect our risk-taking behavior more than others, all have some influence.

So which personality types are the biggest risk-takers? Let’s take a look at the chart below:

This is clearly a divisive topic, and we should get a better picture if we step back and look at type roles and strategies as opposed to individual personality types.

Roles

Analysts agreed with the statement more than any other role (53.60% agreeing). It’s surprising to think of the logical Analyst as prone to uncalculated risk-taking, as we associate these personality types most readily with scientists toiling in labs and engineers laboring over minutia. But Analysts are strong-willed, independent people – their inquisitive attitude and drive can translate into recklessness when pursuing their goals, or even just a “see what happens” attitude. Though Analysts were the most likely to take risks without full consideration of the consequences, only a small majority agreed. Almost as many Analysts had a more conservative outlook.

Diplomats were also divided on the statement (49.79% agreeing). Their curious, visionary nature may get them into trouble at times – they are no less strong-willed and exploratory than the Analysts – but Diplomats are usually a gentler group, and therefore a little less prone to risky behavior.

A minority of Explorers (36.89%) agreed that they routinely took risks without considering the consequences. As both a Prospecting type (52.77% agreeing) as well as an Observant type (25.19% agreeing), Explorers are pulled in two directions when it comes to risk. Ever watchful for a new opportunity, Explorers are eager to take chances for the right reward. On the other hand, their Observant side may remind them of the hard reality of failure – the safest bets are usually the best bets, even if they aren’t as exciting.

As for the Sentinels, it’s no surprise that only 18.88% agreed that they habitually took risks without thinking of the consequences. Believers in the value of order and stability, these personality types abhor the idea of throwing caution to the wind, and they rarely proceed without a plan.

Strategies

Among the four strategies, Social Engagement was the one most likely to agree that they were routine risk-takers, and even this strategy was evenly split (50.86% agreeing). Restless Extraverts, followers of the Social Engagement strategy may rush into a risky situation in order to seek an advantage, but this impulse may be equally tempered by a desire not to lose face, should they fail.

Next was the People Mastery strategy (40.56% agreeing), another Extraverted group. The People Mastery strategy is Assertive, as opposed to the Turbulence of Social Engagement that lends itself to a certain degree of exaggerated behavior. Their self-assurance may lead them to think more clearly, and with less urgency, before leaping into potentially disastrous situations.

Close behind, we have the Constant Improvement strategy (36.36% agreeing). As with the Social Engagement strategy, personality types following Constant Improvement are conscious of how they are seen – and eager to not embarrass themselves. As an Introverted strategy, these types carefully consider their own circumstances before taking action, but they run the risk of over-analyzing. Their inward attention to the possibility of failure can overshadow the potential rewards of taking a chance.

Finally, there is the Confident Individualism strategy, a minority of whom agreed that they regularly took risks without regard for consequences (27.75% agreeing). With their strong emphasis on personal responsibility and trust in their own abilities, the Confident Individualism strategy may perceive such risk-taking as simply unnecessary – what rush are these personality types in to prove themselves to anyone?

Conclusions

Life is risky. Whether we are taking a more obvious gamble (betting at a poker table or investing in the stock market, for example) or simply choosing from mutually exclusive courses of action (which major to choose in college, or for that matter, whether to attend college at all), our inability to see the future continually forces us to take on some risk.

How we decide to proceed at these junctures – whether we carefully weigh out the consequences of success and failure or just “go with our gut” – can tell us much about who we are. If we think of risk as looking down a cliffside and deciding whether or not one can survive the leap into the water, then we may see the divergence of ways one can handle risk in action.

For some, failure may be so terrifying as to paralyze them with indecision; they stop at the brink and can go no farther. Others may look down at the water, far below, and make a calculated decision based on the factors at hand – are there rocks, riptides, or sharks to contend with? Are they being pursued by a wild animal, such that diving into the water, as dangerous as it might be, is nevertheless safer than the alternative?

Then there are those who leap from the cliff without ever looking down to see where they might land. While some might find such an action to be foolish, fortune at times favors the bold. So it is that some personality types, who may tend more often to make such thoughtless leaps, whether a result of social pressure or their own discomfort with not knowing which way to go, may sometimes reap the rewards of their impulsivity.