Font matters: Times New Roman increases risk aversion

Abstract

This study examines whether font type influences individuals’ financial decision-making in the domains of risk and time. Drawing on principles from cognitive psychology and behavioural economics and motivated by evidence that minor typographic adjustments significantly impact readers' information reception, an online experiment was conducted with 168 participants, who were randomly assigned to either Times New Roman (a serif font) or Comic Sans (a sans-serif font). Risk preferences were measured using a lottery-choice task, while time preferences were assessed via a delay-discounting method. Results indicate that participants exposed to Times New Roman exhibited significantly greater risk aversion at a 5% level than those exposed to Comic Sans, while time preferences remained unaffected. Although participants reported distinct perceptions and emotions associated with each font, these subjective assessments did not fully account for the observed statistical behavioural differences. The findings suggest that typography may influence decision-making through brain activation and other potential mechanisms. This insight underscores the importance of design considerations in decision architecture and invites further research on the cognitive pathways through which font types can nudge economic behaviour in decision-making.