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London BBC Lab UK, a website where visitors can take part in groundbreaking science, is launching today an experiment to help discover the nation’s attitude to risk. By taking The Big Risk Test participants reveal their own appetite for different risks while at the same time helping scientists to understand how people judge, understand or take risks in their everyday lives.

The experiment which launches today, Monday April 4th, will be featured during tonight’s episode of BBC One’s Bang Goes the Theory show at 7.30 pm .

Judging risks is something we do on a day to day basis, often sub-consciously. But since we all vary so considerably in our perceptions of risk, how accurate are the judgments we make? How much do our beliefs about chance and luck sway the decisions we make?

The Big Risk Test is designed by BBC Lab UK in collaboration with scientists Dr Mike Aitken and Professor David Spiegelhalter. Interactive agency, Pancentric Digital, have been commissioned by the BBC to produce the creative that brings to life the experiment, including developing a brand identity, as well as the design and build of four interactive Flash games.

Michael Orwell, Content Producer, BBC says “Everyday we’re exposed to different kinds of risk and we’re interested to find out more about the many and varied ways people perceive and respond to risk. Someone, for example, could be very risk taking in the case of extreme sports but extremely risk averse when it comes to investing money.”

The experiment also explores the how feelings of luck affect our behaviour, Dr. Mike Aitken says “Research has suggested that people who think of themselves as ‘lucky’ actually are ‘lucky’, because they are willing to take more risks!”

To take part in the experiment the public is invited to visit the Lab UK website http://www.bbc.co.uk/labuk/ to answer a range of questions, complete exercises and take part in four Flash-based games, produced by Pancentric Digital, that assess their reaction to different kinds of risk.

Using the Dospert scale which evaluates behavioural intentions (the likelihood that one might engage in risky activities or behaviours) participants reveal their risk taking traits, scored across five different areas of life – ethical, financial, health/safety, social, and recreational.

Dominic Walsh, Project Director, Pancentric Digital says “Since attitudes towards risk and risk taking behaviour varies so greatly from person to person it was really important for us to create robust feedback loops and reporting systems. Each person who participates in the test is rewarded with a highly tailored and personalised report unique to them so they can understand more about their risk taking personality and what this means.”

The Big Risk Test is the third in a series of 5 major experiments BBC Lab UK have commissioned Pancentric Digital to produce. Previous experiments ‘The Great British Class Survey’ and ‘How musical are you?’ received huge public response with ‘The Great British Class Survey’ becoming the largest ever interactive study of its kind.

—ENDS—

About Pancentric Digital
Pancentric Digital is a full service interactive agency specialising in Strategy, User Experience, Social media, Site design & build, Search marketing, E-marketing, Mobile and Video & Rich media. Clients include BBC, Channel 4, Clipper Teas, Burger King, Hennessy, Allianz / Petplan and RSA. Find out more at www.pancentric.com
For further information please contact Lauren Hopwood on 020 7099 6370 or at lauren@pancentric.com

Notes to the editors:

• BBC Lab UK launched in September 2009 with the Brain Test Britain experiment, which aimed to answer the question: does brain training actually work? Many thousands of members of the public took part, making it the largest ever study of computer-based brain training.
• Each BBC Lab UK experiment is designed in collaboration with leading scientists and high profile BBC programmes, such as Bang Goes The Theory, Child Of Our Time and The Virtual Revolution.
• Lab UK is a BBC website where the public can take part in groundbreaking scientific experiments and surveys. For more information please visit http://www.bbc.co.uk/labuk.