Um estudo sobre a influência da área de conhecimento e do grau de instrução na aversão à perda

Abstract

This research aims to investigate the association of loss aversion behavior with the area of knowledge and the degree of academic instruction of the students of the Institutions of Higher Education (IES) of the State of Rio Grande do Norte. For that, a structured questionnaire composed of 16 questions based on the study of Kahneman and Tversky (1979) was applied. The data collection instrument was housed in google forms and sent to undergraduate and graduate students of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN) and the Federal University of the Semi-Arid (UFERSA) of the nine major areas of knowledge, divided by the National Council of Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), obtaining a final sample of 3864 respondents. As a technique of analysis, we used descriptive statistics and the Chi-square test, of adherence and independence. The main results suggest that, as evidenced by the study by Kahneman and Tversky (1979), the sample of the present study is significantly more averse to risk for gains and risk-prone to losses, indicating the presence of loss aversion. In relation to the influence of the area of knowledge, it was verified that the people of the Biological Sciences (CB) areas; Human Sciences (CH) and Linguistics, Letters and Arts (LLA) presented less vulnerability to the effects of loss aversion. Regarding the degree of academic instruction, there was no association with loss aversion.