Across the life span, people face significant financial, social, and health-related decisions that entail weighing the pros and cons associated with each decision choice. However, little is known about decision making in people 64 years and older, even though aging Baby Boomers are a growing segment of the US population. Recent research indicates that decision making differs by age, but the reasons why are not well understood. To better understand age differences in decision making, this proposal takes a new approach by focusing on how people think about positive and negative information. Specifically, older adults may focus more on positive information than negative information, whereas younger adults may focus more on negative information than positive information. When decisions have both pros and cons, differences between people in how they weigh positive and negative information could determine, at least in part, the decisions they make and explain age-related differences in risky decision-making. By understanding if older and younger people weigh negative and positive information differently and establishing that these differential sensitivities affect decision making, more effective ways of communicating positive and negative information can be developed to encourage good decision making across the life span.
The specific aims of the proposed research are to investigate differences in how older and younger people think about positive versus negative information, and then link these differences to risky decisions. Across two studies, older and younger adults will complete a computer task that assesses basic ways of thinking about positive versus negative information. Participants will also answer questions and complete tasks that measure their decision making. Older and younger adults will be compared to determine if they differ in learning or weighting of positive versus negative information, and the extent to which these differences explain age-related differences in decision making will be tested. The results will show how age-related differences in decisions that involve pros and cons may be due to basic differences in how older and younger people view positive and negative information. Understanding this will provide information that can be used to help people of all ages make good decisions.
