Beauty Queens and Battling Knights: Risk Taking and Attractiveness in Chess

Anna Dreber, Christer Gerdes () and Patrik Gränsmark

No 5314, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: We explore the relationship between attractiveness and risk taking in chess. We use a large international panel dataset on chess competitions which includes a control for the players' skill in chess. This data is combined with results from a survey on an online labor market where participants were asked to rate the photos of 626 expert chess players according to attractiveness. Our results suggest that male chess players choose significantly riskier strategies when playing against an attractive female opponent, even though this does not improve their performance. Women's strategies are not affected by the attractiveness of the opponent.

Keywords: chess; attractiveness; risk taking; gender differences (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D03 J16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 38 pages
Date: 2010-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe and nep-spo
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

Published - published in: Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 2013, 90, 1-18

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Related works:
Journal Article: Beauty queens and battling knights: Risk taking and attractiveness in chess (2013)
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