Abstract
According to the dual-process theoretical perspective adopted in the presented research, the efficiency of deliberative processes in decision making declines with age, but experiential processes are relatively well-preserved. The age-related differences in deliberative and experiential processes in risky decision-making were examined in this research by applying the Balloon Analog Risk Task (BART). We analyzed the influence of age on risk acceptance and decision-making performance in two age groups of female participants (younger adults, n = 81; older adults, n = 76), with additional experimental manipulation of initial risk perception. We predicted and confirmed that aging significantly worsens performance on the behavioral BART measures due to age-related decline in deliberative processes. Older participants were found to exhibit significantly higher risk aversion and lower BART performance, and the effect of age was mediated by cognitive (processing speed) and motivational (need for cognitive closure) mechanisms. Moreover, older adults adapt to the initial failure (vs. success) similarly, as younger adults due to preserved efficiency of experiential processes. These results suggest future directions for minimizing negative effects of aging in risky decision-making and indicate compensatory processes, which are preserved during aging.
Highlights
The common understanding is that young people are prone to risk taking, while older adults are used as examples of caution and risk aversion (Rolison et al, 2012)
Classical dual-process models (e.g., Bargh, 1994; Epstein, 1994; Kahneman, 2003) differentiate the deliberative processes from the experiential processes. This distinction is important because the empirical evidence shows that in decision-making, deliberative processes are impaired by aging, but experiential processes are relatively wellpreserved
As seen in previous studies, the principal measure of risk-taking behavior using the Balloon Analog Risk Task (BART) was the adjusted number of pumps; two additional measures were total points earned and number of explosions
Summary
The common understanding is that young people are prone to risk taking, while older adults are used as examples of caution and risk aversion (Rolison et al, 2012) Those stereotypes do not find support in numerous research results and correlational data (Dror et al, 1998; Chou et al, 2007; Samanez-Larkin et al, 2011). Classical dual-process models (e.g., Bargh, 1994; Epstein, 1994; Kahneman, 2003) differentiate the deliberative processes (effortful, analytical, often verbal, and slow) from the experiential processes (automatic, associative, often affective, and fast) This distinction is important because the empirical evidence (for reviews, see Peters et al, 2007; Hess, 2015) shows that in decision-making, deliberative processes are impaired by aging, but experiential processes are relatively wellpreserved. In the BART, older adults were more risk-averse than their younger counterparts
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