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Suboptimal Decision Making in Borderline Personality Disorder: Effect of Potential Losses

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 July 2014

Juan P. Sánchez-Navarro ,
Joshua A. Weller ,
Jose M. López-Navarro ,
Jose M. Martínez-Selva  and
Antoine Bechara
Juan P. Sánchez-Navarro*
Affiliation:
Universidad de Murcia (Spain)
Joshua A. Weller
Affiliation:
Idaho State University (USA)
Jose M. López-Navarro
Affiliation:
Hospital General Universitario Reina Sofía (Spain)
Jose M. Martínez-Selva
Affiliation:
Universidad de Murcia (Spain)
Antoine Bechara
Affiliation:
University of Southern California (USA)
*
*Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Juan P. Sánchez-Navarro. Facultad de Psicología. Universidad de Murcia. 30100. Murcia (Spain). Phone: +34–868887707. FAX: +34–868884111. E-mail: jpedro@um.es
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Abstract

This research explored the underlying processes mediating risky decisions for individuals with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). We tested whether BPD patients were more apt to take risks compared to a matched comparison group. We used two controlled tasks designed to assess risky decision-making, both to achieve gains and to avoid losses. Overall, BPD patients showed increased risk-taking compared to the comparison group (p = .011, η2 = .224), and were especially likely to be risk-seeking when the decision was framed as a potential loss (p < .0001, d = 1.77). When the outcome involved pure losses, BPD patients were insensitive to the relative expected value between choice options resulting in suboptimal decision making (p = .004, d = 1.24), but did not differ from the comparison group when taking risks to achieve gains (p = .603, d = 0.21). We discuss these results in the context of behavioral and neuropsychiatric research suggesting abnormalities BPD patients’ ability to effectively regulate affect.

Keywords

borderline personality disorderdecision-makingriskframing effectexpected value sensitivity
Type
Research Article
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 17 , 2014 , E38
Copyright
Copyright © Universidad Complutense de Madrid and Colegio Oficial de Psicólogos de Madrid 2014 

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