Priming and prevention of risk taking in winter sports: physiological correlates

Abstract

Background: The winter sports practice causes injuries each season on ski slopes. A solution to reduce risk-taking and prevent injuries would be the use of priming procedures as developed in social psychology. This laboratory study tested a priming procedure on a specific risk-taking task in winter sports associated to physiological reactions. Methods: Participants (n = 116) were exposed either to a poster including a message advocating to slow down on the slopes, or to a poster with the message "breathe". Both posters included a specific logo. Then they performed a computerized risk-taking task related to the speed on the slopes. Between each trial (30) of the task, participants were re-exposed briefly to the logo from the posters (vs. a control logo). The electrodermal and electrocardiogram activity were continuously recorded during the task. Findings: The risk-taking score was lower in the condition with the logo derived from the poster (with the message "breathe"), compared to the control logo condition, F(1, 112) = 4.46, p = < .05. However, we observed no significant effect of the logo (vs. control logo) from the posters on the heart rate and electrodermal reactions. Discussion: Priming procedures and the understanding of associated physiological reactions offer new perspectives in the prevention of risk-taking in winter sports. It would be of interest to test directly on the slopes the effect of the logo derived from the poster (with the message “breatheâ€) on the speed and on the physiological responses of skiers (e.g., wristband measuring the heart rate).