Risk taking is an integral part of Human Decision Making process and Emotions play a large role in it. Any Rational human being takes Risk when he has enough to afford losing a little. Risk is usually taken to achieve Desire at upper level and in the event of not achieving it, the least what a person gains is better Know-How, better understanding of how things work. So there’s no real loss, it is just an estimate of the investment being worth it.
While referring to Emotional Impact we have learnt earlier in this text that often investment in terms of efforts (in terms of time, energy, money, space of mind, etc.) is needed while attempting to establish a new relationship or achieving Desire of higher level. Such investments are easily welcome when the person is either high on positive Emotions (remember making large promises when you were very happy?) or has robust mechanism (highly practical Individual theory) of achieving what is Desired (with highly realistic Know-How). People who are Emotionally resilient (capable of recovering fast from loss) have higher appetite for Risk taking.
Let us look at an extreme positive end of this. People who have highly realistic Know-How about how the world works and are have mastered the art of achieving their Desires, those with highly practical Individual theories, are often not much concerned about running for so called smaller things in life. Their Risk taking appetite is almost infinite. Such people aim at achieving what looks beyond capacity of ‘common man’. Their acts are almost selfless. To elaborate with an example, think of a highly learned personality. You would not find that person craving for basic respect or say would have no Ego whatsoever. Acts by that person would aim at Desires which are at levels way beyond what a ‘common man’ runs for. Such acts are referred to as ‘going beyond themselves for the larger good’. This state is defined as ‘Self Transcendence*’ in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs8.
*self-transcendence – the overcoming of the limits of the individual self and its desires in spiritual contemplation and realization.