Age, but not education, affects social decision-making in the ultimatum game paradigm

Social decision-making (SDM) is often studied through gaming paradigms, in which participants allocate resources among themselves and others based on predefined rules. In an adapted version of the ultimatum game (UG), SDM behavior was modulated in response to the degree of fairness of monetary offers and the social context of opponents, designed to generate either prosocial or punishing behaviors.

To investigate whether SDM evaluated by the UG is affected by age and schooling, as it is relevant to know whether sociodemographic variables may bias UG results.

A total of 131 healthy adults participated: 35 young university students and 96 participants in Universidade de São Paulo's USP 60+ program (formerly known as Universidade Aberta à Terceira Idade, a program for people aged ≥ 60 years to attend university). The sample was divided into 3 age groups (17-22, 60-69, and 70-79 years) and 3 schooling groups (4-8, 9-11, and ≥ 12 years of schooling).

Age and schooling did not affect performance in fair monetary offers. Differences were observed in the unfair conditions. The oldest group (70-79 years) accepted less frequently the baseline unfair offers (without social context), when compared with the 17-22 and the 60-69 years groups (17-22 = 60-69 > 70-79). Regarding the prosocial unfair and punishing unfair conditions, older adults accepted such offers more frequently (17-22 < 60-69 = 70-79). Schooling effects were not observed.

In the context of SDM, older adults may show prosocial behaviors more frequently than younger adults. The findings suggest performance in the UG is affected by age, but not by schooling.