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Adult age differences in decision making across domains: Increased discounting of social and health-related rewards.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Seaman, KL; Gorlick, MA; Vekaria, KM; Hsu, M; Zald, DH; Samanez-Larkin, GR
Published in: Psychology and aging
November 2016

Although research on aging and decision making continues to grow, the majority of studies examine decisions made to maximize monetary earnings or points. It is not clear whether these results generalize to other types of rewards. To investigate this, we examined adult age differences in 92 healthy participants aged 22 to 83. Participants completed 9 hypothetical discounting tasks, which included 3 types of discounting factors (time, probability, effort) across 3 reward domains (monetary, social, health). Participants made choices between a smaller magnitude reward with a shorter time delay/higher probability/lower level of physical effort required and a larger magnitude reward with a longer time delay/lower probability/higher level of physical effort required. Older compared with younger individuals were more likely to choose options that involved shorter time delays or higher probabilities of experiencing an interaction with a close social partner or receiving health benefits from a hypothetical drug. These findings suggest that older adults may be more motivated than young adults to obtain social and health rewards immediately and with certainty. (PsycINFO Database Record

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Published In

Psychology and aging

DOI

EISSN

1939-1498

ISSN

0882-7974

Publication Date

November 2016

Volume

31

Issue

7

Start / End Page

737 / 746

Related Subject Headings

  • Young Adult
  • Reward
  • Middle Aged
  • Male
  • Humans
  • Female
  • Experimental Psychology
  • Decision Making
  • Aging
  • Aged, 80 and over
 

Citation

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Seaman, K. L., Gorlick, M. A., Vekaria, K. M., Hsu, M., Zald, D. H., & Samanez-Larkin, G. R. (2016). Adult age differences in decision making across domains: Increased discounting of social and health-related rewards. Psychology and Aging, 31(7), 737–746. https://doi.org/10.1037/pag0000131
Seaman, Kendra L., Marissa A. Gorlick, Kruti M. Vekaria, Ming Hsu, David H. Zald, and Gregory R. Samanez-Larkin. “Adult age differences in decision making across domains: Increased discounting of social and health-related rewards.Psychology and Aging 31, no. 7 (November 2016): 737–46. https://doi.org/10.1037/pag0000131.
Seaman KL, Gorlick MA, Vekaria KM, Hsu M, Zald DH, Samanez-Larkin GR. Adult age differences in decision making across domains: Increased discounting of social and health-related rewards. Psychology and aging. 2016 Nov;31(7):737–46.
Seaman, Kendra L., et al. “Adult age differences in decision making across domains: Increased discounting of social and health-related rewards.Psychology and Aging, vol. 31, no. 7, Nov. 2016, pp. 737–46. Epmc, doi:10.1037/pag0000131.
Seaman KL, Gorlick MA, Vekaria KM, Hsu M, Zald DH, Samanez-Larkin GR. Adult age differences in decision making across domains: Increased discounting of social and health-related rewards. Psychology and aging. 2016 Nov;31(7):737–746.

Published In

Psychology and aging

DOI

EISSN

1939-1498

ISSN

0882-7974

Publication Date

November 2016

Volume

31

Issue

7

Start / End Page

737 / 746

Related Subject Headings

  • Young Adult
  • Reward
  • Middle Aged
  • Male
  • Humans
  • Female
  • Experimental Psychology
  • Decision Making
  • Aging
  • Aged, 80 and over