PS406/PS931
Developmental
Psychology
Dr Jonathan Rolison
Week 11
Adulthood: Risk taking
1
Learning objectives
Adulthood: Risk-taking
o What risky decisions do older adults face?
o Are older adults risk averse?
o Studies of self-report and risky dilemmas
o Decisions from experience and description
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3
Defining risk
Outcome variability
£400
£200
£1
Probability of a
negative outcome
Enjoy Attacked
views by an
animal
Learn
about
animals
4
Risk taking propensity
Risk-taking
Risk propensity
perception
Enjoy Attacked
views by an
animal
Learn
about
animals
5
6
Decisions older adults face
• Medical care and treatment
• Social environment
Whether to accept assistance
Video discussing fraud
• Finance
Insurance,
savings,
retirement
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Self-report
Risky dilemmas
Choice Dilemma Scale
Mr B, who has developed a severe heart ailment, has the choice of
changing many of his strongest life habits or undergoing a delicate
medical operation which may succeed or prove fatal.
What is the minimum probability of success (from 1/10 to 10/10)
necessary for you to recommend the medical operation?
Using such measures, older adults are typically more
risk averse (i.e., more cautious) than younger adults
8
Kogan & Wallach (1964)
Self-report
Reports of risk taking
Attitudes towards risky driving practices
Sometimes I take risks when driving, just for the sake of the risks
It is a thrill to outwit other drivers
I am easily provoked or angered when driving
• Adults over 50 years agreed less with such
statements than 17-29 year olds
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Turner & McClure, Int J Inj Contr Saf Promot (2003)
Self-report
Risk taking propensity
The Domain Specific Risk Taking scale (DOSPERT)
Financial: Invest 5% of your annual income in a speculative stock
Health: Sunbath without sunscreen
Ethical: Have an affair with a married man/woman
Recreational: Bungee jump off a tall bridge
Social: Admit that your tastes are different from those of a friend
Weber et al., J Behav Decis Mak (2002)10
Self-report
Risk taking propensity
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Rolison et al., J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci (2014)
Self-report
Risk taking propensity
Financial
General
Health Social
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König J Behav Decis Mak (2021)
Self-report
Risk taking propensity
Negative age tend in
risk-taking in various
domains across
countries (each
coloured line represents
a country)
Age trends steeper in some
domains (e.g., recreational)
than others (e.g., health)
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Liu J J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci (2023)
Causes of age trends
Risk sensitivity theory
Greater risk taking in young
adulthood to gain access to
resources and mating
partners
Growth vs. maintenance
Young adults focus on
growth goals; older adults
focus on maintenance and
loss prevention
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Causes of age trends
Financial risk taking
rewarded in younger age,
but punished in older age
Social risk taking
threatens peer-relations
in younger age and
social contacts in older
age
Recreational risk taking
important for social status in
younger age, but dangerous in
older age
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Decisions from experience
Problems with self-report:
Honesty and insight
Do people behave the same in real life with real
consequences?
An alternative: Decisions from experience
Computer-based tasks that simulate real-life decision
making
16
Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART)
For any given pump
the balloon could
explode, losing all
winnings accrued for
the balloon
Winnings accrued for a
balloon can be banked
Participant pumps and kept safe, moving
virtual balloon and onto the next balloon
receives a small token
for each pump
Lejuez et al., JEP: Applied (2002)
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Decisions from experience
BART:
Older adults take fewer risks
than younger adults
Computational models
Older adults initially less likely to
pump balloon and less certain than
younger adults (width of
distribution)
Rolison et al., Psychol Aging (2012) 18
Decisions from experience
Iowa Gambling Task (IGT)
Turn over one of the cards to win or lose money. The cards
differ in their win and loss amounts and their net (i.e., long-
run) payoffs
Bad decks: High payoffs but high losses
Good decks: Smaller payoffs but higher overall gain
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Bechara et al., Science (1997)
Decisions from experience
IGT
Some decks offer high rewards but also high occasional losses
(Deck 1) and are disadvantageous.
Bad deck Bad deck Good deck Good deck
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Bechara et al., Science (1997)
Decisions from experience
With
People experience,
initially they learn to
choose bad prefer good
(high reward) (high net
decks earning) decks
Prefrontal damage
Patients often fail to switch to advantageous decks
Older age
Some older adults fail to switch to advantageous decks
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Denburg et al., Ann Behav Med (2009)
Decisions from experience
The BIAS task
Choose between ‘stocks’ and ‘bonds’
People initially choose the ‘stocks’,
but shift to the safe ‘bond’ with
experience
Older adults continue to choose
‘stocks’, suggesting impairment in
use of probabilistic feedback in
older age
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Samanez-Larkin et al., Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci (2011)
Decisions from description
The BIAS task
Explicit information
When told the actual payoffs, age differences
disappear
Older adults make risk taking mistakes in
uncertain situations
when learning demands are high
What are the real world implications?
Samanez-Larkin et al., Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci (2011)23
Decisions: Description vs. experience
Ambiguity vs unambiguity
Ambiguous Unambiguous
Decision from experience Decision from description
(incomplete information) (complete information)
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Zamarian et al., Neuropsychology (2008)
Summary
Self-report studies
o Indicate greater cautiousness with advancing age
Decisions from experience
o Older adults take fewer risks when risk taking is
encouraged through the learning process (BART), and
more risks when risk taking is discouraged (IGT)
Decisions from description vs. experience
o Explicit information reduces task demands (imposed by
learning) and is associated with smaller age differences
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Further (not essential) reading
Nolte, J., & Hanoch, Y. (2023). Adult age
differences in risk perception and risk taking.
Current Opinion in Psychology.
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