The casual observer knows that individuals differ in their attitudes toward risk. Some individuals seek certain kinds of risks that others desperately avoid. Consequently, it would seem straightforward to differentiate individuals according to their tendencies toward risk. Such is not the case. An extremely diverse set of research examines individual differences in risk taking with equally diverse results. Research on individual differences addresses several questions:

1. Do specific individuals demonstrate consistent risk-taking tendencies across differing kinds of risks? Do individuals differ in risk-taking behaviors for a given kind of risk? That is, do individuals show a consistent "risk-taking propensity" across different kinds of risk (or situations), and do individuals differ in such a propensity?

2. If individual differences exist, can we describe, explain, or predict them, recognizing that the differences may not be stable across different kinds of risks? What frameworks are available for doing so, and how well do they perform?

3. Finally, what do the results of these research efforts imply for further research and practical decision making under risk?

This chapter examines efforts to understand how individuals differ in risk taking. We begin by outlining six conceptual approaches to studying risk taking. Our review of research using these approaches finds evidence of both individual and situational differences in risk taking i.e. understanding risk taking requires understanding both individual traits and risk-taking situations. Consequently, we organize our survey of individual differences in risk taking by situational categories, follow this with a look at several intersituational studies and what they find, and end with a general discussion and summary of these efforts.