Abstract
This paper summarizes procedures and results in a dozen investigations conducted with as many student- experi- menters and designed to generate a clear operational distinction between skill and risk- taking tendency, as well as quantitative measures of individual differences in both. in order to test expectations derived from the theory of risk homeostasis, the data were inspected on variations in risk- loving- ness /aversion under different experimentally manipulated levels of potential loss, as well as in relation to different levels of individual proficiency in the psychomotor and cognitive skills considered.