Risk taking in adversarial situations: civilization differences in chess experts

Chassy, Philippe and Gobet, Fernand ORCID: 0000-0002-9317-6886 (2015) Risk taking in adversarial situations: civilization differences in chess experts. Cognition, 141. pp. 36-40. ISSN 0010-0277

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Abstract

The projections of experts in politics predict that a new world order will emerge within two decades. Being multipolar, this world will inevitably lead to frictions where civilizations and states will have to decide whether to risk conflict. Very often these decisions are informed if not taken by experts. To estimate risk-taking across civilizations, we examined strategies used in 667,599 chess games played over eleven years by chess experts from 11 different civilizations. We show that some civilizations are more inclined to settle for peace. Similarly, we show that once engaged in the battle, the level of risk taking varies significantly across civilizations, the boldest civilization using the riskiest strategy about 35% more than the most conservative civilization. We discuss which psychological factors might underpin these civilizational differences.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/cognition
Additional Information:	© 2015 Elsevier B.V.
Divisions:	CPNSS
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology J Political Science > JC Political theory
Date Deposited:	26 Oct 2019 15:54
Last Modified:	20 Dec 2024 00:37
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/102245

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