Collective Risk Taking in Adolescents and Young Adults: Adolescents Take More Risks When Deciding Collectively Than...

Area of Science:

• Cognitive psychology
• Developmental psychology
• Social neuroscience

Background:

• Adolescents exhibit higher risk-taking tendencies compared to other age groups, particularly in peer settings.
• Collective risk-taking, where groups make joint decisions under risk, is a key area of interest.
• Understanding how peer context and age influence collective decision-making is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the interaction between peer contexts and age in promoting collective risk-taking.
• To examine the impact of experiencing collective decision outcomes on subsequent individual choices.
• To determine if adolescents are more prone to collective risk-taking than adults.

Main Methods:

• A collective risk-taking task involving 248 UK participants aged 11-39 (2020-2021).
• Participants made decisions alone or in anonymous online groups of four peers.
• Post-decision outcome exposure informed subsequent choices between collective and individual decision-making.

Main Results:

• Voluntarily joining collectives increased risk-taking compared to individual decisions.
• The risk-enhancing effect of collectives diminished with age from late adolescence to early adulthood.
• Adolescents, unlike adults, showed greater decision variability when alone, correlating with a preference for group participation.

Conclusions:

• Adolescents are more inclined than adults to engage in collective risk-taking.
• Adolescents demonstrate a higher propensity to voluntarily join groups for decision-making.
• Age significantly moderates the influence of peer contexts on risk-taking behavior.