Risk, reward, and economic decision making in aging

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Neuroeconomics
• Behavioral Economics

Background:

• Decision-making quality is often perceived as lower in older adults compared to younger adults.
• This age-related decline is frequently attributed to reduced risk tolerance.
• Limited understanding exists regarding factors influencing older adults' decisions and the direct impact of risk attitudes on economic choices.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the influence of risk attitudes on age-related decision-making differences.
• To examine decision-making in both nonsocial and social economic contexts.
• To determine if risk aversion in older adults affects economic choices.

Main Methods:

• Measured risk attitudes and economic decision-making in 30 healthy older adults and 29 healthy younger adults.
• Assessed nonsocial economic decision-making tasks.
• Utilized social bargaining and social-giving economic games.

Main Results:

• Older adults reported lower impulsivity, sensation seeking, and risk tolerance than younger adults.
• No significant age-related differences were observed in nonsocial economic decision-making.
• Older adults were more prone to reject unfair monetary divisions and favored equitable divisions in social games, influenced by self-reported risk-taking.

Conclusions:

• Age-related decision-making variations are domain-specific, with social economic decisions influenced by risk attitudes.
• Older adults' increased risk aversion did not affect their patience for rewards in nonsocial contexts.
• Higher perceived risk correlated with reluctance to accept unfair offers in social economic scenarios, leading to suboptimal outcomes for older adults.