1932
0
  1. Home
  2. A-Z Publications
  3. Annual Review of Developmental Psychology
  4. Volume 2, 2020
  5. Article

Annual Review of Developmental Psychology

Volume 2, 2020

Decision Making Across Adulthood

Abstract

This review summarizes research and theory on aging and decision making. We trace the conceptual and historical origins of using behavioral decision-making tasks to identify age differences in decision-making competence. We review cross-sectional and longitudinal studies that suggest that some facets of decision-making competence remain relatively stable across adulthood. We describe how older adults’ decision-making competence may be challenged by complex decisions that tax their fluid cognitive abilities, especially when decisions are not seen as personally relevant. We discuss how relying on life experience can offset declines in fluid reasoning skills and how age-related shifts in motivation and improvements in emotion regulation provide an advantage when decisions involve losses and missed opportunities. We discuss how existing knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses of the aging decision maker might be applied to improve decision-making competence and outline next steps for advancing understanding of decision making across adulthood.

Keyword(s): aging, cognitive development, decision-making competence, emotion regulation, experience, motivation
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-devpsych-051120-010038
2020-12-15
2025-02-12
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

/deliver/fulltext/devpsych/2/1/annurev-devpsych-051120-010038.html?itemId=/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-devpsych-051120-010038&mimeType=html&fmt=ahah

Literature Cited

  1. Agarwal S, Driscoll JC, Gabaix X, Laibson D 2009. The age of reason: financial decisions over the life cycle and implications for regulation. Brookings Pap. Econ. Act. 2:51–117 https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.973790
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  2. Arkes HR, Blumer C. 1985. The psychology of sunk cost. Organ. Behav. Hum. Decis. Process. 35:1124–40 https://doi.org/10.1016/0749-5978(85)90049-4
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  3. Baltes PB, Lindenberger U, Staudinger UM 2006. Life-span theory in developmental psychology. Handbook of Child Psychology: Theoretical Models of Human Development RM Lerner, W Damon 569–664 Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons
     [Google Scholar]
  4. Besedeš T, Deck C, Sarangi S, Shor M 2012. Decision-making strategies and performance among seniors. J. Econ. Behav. Organ. 81:524–33 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2011.07.016
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  5. Besedeš T, Deck C, Sarangi S, Shor M 2015. Reducing choice overload without reducing choices. Rev. Econ. Stat. 97:4793–802 https://doi.org/10.1162/REST_a_00506
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  6. Bloom DE, Chatterji S, Kowal P, Lloyd-Sherlock P, McKee M et al. 2015. Macroeconomic implications of population ageing and selected policy responses. Lancet 385:649–57 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(14)61464-1
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  7. Boyle PA, Yu L, Wilson RS, Gamble K, Buchman AS, Bennett DA 2012. Poor decision making is a consequence of cognitive decline among older persons without Alzheimer's disease or mild cognitive impairment. PLOS ONE 7:8e43647 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0043647
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  8. Bruine de Bruin W. 2012. Judgment and decision making in adolescents. Judgment and Decision Making as a Skill: Learning Development and Evolution MK Dhami, A Schlottmann, MR Waldmann 85–112 Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press
     [Google Scholar]
  9. Bruine de Bruin W, Bostrom A 2013. Assessing what to address in science communication. PNAS 110:Suppl. 314062–68
     [Google Scholar]
  10. Bruine de Bruin W, McNair SJ, Taylor AL, Summers B, Strough J 2015. “Thinking about numbers is not my idea of fun”: Need for cognition mediates age differences in numeracy performance. Med. Decis. Mak. 35:122–26 https://doi.org/10.1177/0272989X14542485
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  11. Bruine de Bruin W, Parker AM, Fischhoff B 2007. Individual differences in adult decision-making competence. J. Personal. Soc. Psychol. 92:5938–56 http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.92.5.938
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  12. Bruine de Bruin W, Parker AM, Fischhoff B 2020. Decision-making competence: more than intelligence. ? Curr. Dir. Psychol. Sci. 29:2186–92 https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721420901592
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  13. Bruine de Bruin W, Parker AM, Fischhoff B 2012. Explaining adult age differences in decision-making competence. J. Behav. Decis. Mak. 25:352–60 https://doi.org/10.1002/bdm.712
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  14. Bruine de Bruin W, Parker AM, Strough J 2016. Choosing to be happy? Age differences in ‘maximizing’ decision strategies and experienced emotional well-being. Psychol. Aging 31:295–300 https://doi.org/10.1037/pag0000073
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  15. Bruine de Bruin W, Strough J, Parker AM 2014. Getting older isn't all that bad: better decisions and coping when facing “sunk costs.”. Psychol. Aging 29:3642–47 https://doi.org/10.1037/a0036308
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  16. Bruine de Bruin W, van Putten M, van Emden R, Strough J 2018. Age differences in emotional responses to monetary losses and gains. Psychol. Aging 33:3413–18 https://doi.org/10.1037/pag0000073
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  17. Cacioppo JT, Petty RE. 1982. The need for cognition. J. Personal. Soc. Psychol. 42:1116–31
     [Google Scholar]
  18. Carpenter SM, Peters E, Västfjäll D, Isen AM 2013. Positive feelings facilitate working memory and complex decision making among older adults. Cogn. Emot. 27:184–92 https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2012.698251
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  19. Carstensen LL. 2006. The influence of a sense of time on human development. Science 312:1913–15 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1127488
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  20. Carstensen LL, DeLiema M. 2018. The positivity effect: A negativity bias in youth fades with age. Curr. Opin. Behav. Sci. 19:7–12 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cobeha.2017.07.009
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  21. Carstensen LL, Turan B, Scheibe S, Ram N, Ersner-Hershfield H et al. 2011. Emotional experience improves with age: evidence based on over 10 years of experience sampling. Psychol. Aging 26:21–33 https://doi.org/10.1037/a0021285
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  22. Chapman GB, Li M, Colby H, Yoon H 2010. Opting in versus opting out of influenza vaccination. JAMA 304:43–44 https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2010.892
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  23. Charles ST. 2010. Strength and vulnerability integration: a model of emotional well-being across adulthood. Psychol. Bull. 136:61068–91
     [Google Scholar]
  24. Charles ST, Carstensen LL. 2010. Social and emotional aging. Annu. Rev. Psychol. 61:383–409 https://doi.org/10.1037/a0021232
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  25. Chin A, Bruine de Bruin W 2019. Helping consumers to evaluate annual percentage rates (APR) on credit cards. J. Exp. Psychol. Appl. 25:177–87 https://doi.org/10.1037/xap0000197
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  26. Del Missier F, Hansson P, Parker AM, Bruine de Bruin W, Mäntylä T 2020. Decision-making competence in older adults: a rosy view from a longitudinal investigation. Psychol. Aging 35:4553–64 https://doi.org/10.1037/pag0000443
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  27. Del Missier F, Hansson P, Parker AM, Bruine de Bruin W, Nilsson L, Mäntylä T 2017. Unraveling the aging skein: disentangling sensory and cognitive predictors of age‐related differences in decision making. J. Behav. Decis. Mak. 30:123–39 https://doi.org/10.1002/bdm.1926
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  28. Del Missier F, Mäntylä T, Bruine de Bruin W 2012. Decision‐making competence, executive functioning, and general cognitive abilities. J. Behav. Decis. Mak. 25:331–51 https://doi.org/10.1002/bdm.731
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  29. Del Missier F, Mäntylä T, Hansson P, Bruine de Bruin W, Parker AM, Nilsson L-G 2013. The multifold relationship between memory and decision making: an individual differences study. J. Exp. Psychol. Learn. Mem. Cogn. 39:1344–64 https://doi.org/10.1037/a0032379
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  30. Depping MK, Freund AM. 2013. When choice matters: task-dependent memory effects in older adulthood. Psychol. Aging 28:4923–36 https://doi.org/10.1037/a0034520
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  31. Eberhardt W, Bruine de Bruin W, Strough J 2018. Age differences in financial decision making: the benefits of more experience and less negative emotions. J. Behav. Decis. Mak. 32:179–93 https://doi.org/10.1002/bdm.2097
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  32. Edwards W. 1954. The theory of decision making. Psychol. Bull. 51:380–417 https://doi.org/10.1037/h0053870
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  33. English T, Carstensen LL. 2015. Does positivity operate when the stakes are high? Health status and decision making among older adults. Psychol. Aging 30:2348–55 https://doi.org/10.1037/a0039121
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  34. Ennis GE, Hess TM, Smith BT 2013. The impact of age and motivation on cognitive effort: implications for cognitive engagement in older adulthood. Psychol. Aging 28:495–504 https://doi.org/10.1037/a0031255
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  35. Erikson EH. 1969. Identity: Youth and Crisis New York: W.W. Norton
     [Google Scholar]
  36. Evans JSB. 2008. Dual-processing accounts of reasoning, judgment, and social cognition. Annu. Rev. Psychol. 59:255–78 https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.59.103006.093629
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  37. Fennema MG, Perkins JD. 2008. Mental budgeting versus marginal decision making: training, experience and justification effects on decisions involving sunk costs. J. Behav. Decis. Mak. 21:3225–39 https://doi.org/10.1002/bdm.585
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  38. Fernandes D, Lynch JG Jr., Netemeyer RG 2014. Financial literacy, financial education, and downstream financial behaviors. Manag. Sci. 60:81861–83 https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2013.1849
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  39. Finucane ML, Gullion CM. 2010. Developing a tool for measuring the decision-making competence of older adults. Psychol. Aging 25:271–88 https://doi.org/10.1037/a0019106
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  40. Finucane ML, Slovic P, Hibbard JH, Peters E, Mertz CK, MacGregor DG 2002. Aging and decision-making competence: an analysis of comprehension and consistency skills in older versus younger adults considering health-plan options. J. Behav. Decis. Mak. 15:141–64 https://doi.org/10.1002/bdm.407
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  41. Frey R, Mata R, Hertwig R 2015. The role of cognitive abilities in decisions from experience: age differences emerge as a function of choice set size. Cognition 14:260–80 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2015.05.004
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  42. Gigerenzer G. 2008. Why heuristics work. Perspect. Psychol. Sci. 3:120–29 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-6916.2008.00058.x
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  43. Gigerenzer G, Todd PM.ABC Res. Group 1999. Simple Heuristics That Make Us Smart New York: Oxford Univ. Press
     [Google Scholar]
  44. Gross JJ, Carstensen LL, Pasupathi M, Tsai J, Götestam Skorpen C, Hsu AY 1997. Emotion and aging: experience, expression, and control. Psychol. Aging. 12:4590–99 https://doi.org/10.1037/0882-7974.12.4.590
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  45. Hamilton JG, Lillie SE, Alden DL, Scherer L, Oser M et al. 2017. What is a good medical decision? A research agenda guided by perspectives from multiple stakeholders. J. Behav. Med. 40:52–68 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-016-9785-z
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  46. Hanoch Y, Wood S, Barnes A, Liu PJ, Rice T 2011. Choosing the right Medicare prescription drug plan: the effect of age, strategy selection, and choice set size. Health Psychol 30:6719–27 https://doi.org/10.1037/a0023951
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  47. Henrich J, Heine SJ, Norenzayan A 2010. The weirdest people in the world. ? Behav. Brain Sci. 33:2–361–83 https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X0999152X
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  48. Hess TM. 2014. Selective engagement of cognitive resources: motivational influences on older adults’ cognitive functioning. Perspect. Psychol. Sci. 9:388–407 https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691614527465
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  49. Hess TM, Queen TL. 2014. Aging influences on judgment and decision processes: interactions between ability and experience. Emotion, Social Cognition, and Everyday Problem Solving During Adulthood P Verhaeghen, C Hertzog 238–55 New York: Oxford Univ. Press
     [Google Scholar]
  50. Hess TM, Queen TL, Ennis GE 2012. Age and self-relevance effects on information search during decision making. J. Gerontol. Ser. B Psychol. Sci. Soc. Sci. 68:703–11 https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbs108
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  51. Hess TM, Strough J, Löckenhoff C 2015. Aging and Decision Making: Empirical and Applied Perspectives San Diego, CA: Elsevier Acad.
     [Google Scholar]
  52. Hun-Tong T, Yates JF. 1995. Sunk cost effects: the influences of instruction and future return estimates. Organ. Behav. Hum. Decis. Process. 63:3311–19 https://doi.org/10.1006/obhd.1995.1082
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  53. Jacobs JE, Greenwald JP, Osgood DW 1995. Developmental differences in base rate estimates of social behaviors and attitudes. Soc. Dev. 4:2165–81 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9507.1995.tb00058.x
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  54. Johnson MMS. 1990. Age differences in decision making: a process methodology for examining strategic information processing. J. Gerontol. 45:P75–78 https://doi.org/10.1093/geronj/45.2.P75
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  55. Kahneman D. 2003. A perspective on judgment and choice: mapping bounded rationality. Am. Psychol. 58:697–720 https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.58.9.697
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  56. Kahneman D, Tversky A. 1979. An analysis of decision under risk. Econometrica 47:263–92
     [Google Scholar]
  57. Keren G. 1991. Calibration and probability judgements: conceptual and methodological issues. Acta Psychol 77:3217–73 https://doi.org/10.1016/0001-6918(91)90036-Y
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  58. Keren G, Bruine de Bruin W 2003. On the assessment of decision quality: considerations regarding utility, conflict, and accountability. Thinking: Psychological Perspectives on Reasoning, Judgment and Decision Making D Hardman, L Macchi 347–63 New York: Wiley
     [Google Scholar]
  59. Kim S, Healey MK, Goldstein D, Hasher L, Wiprzycka UJ 2008. Age differences in choice satisfaction: a positivity effect in decision making. Psychol. Aging 23:33–38 http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0882-7974.23.1.33
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  60. Kobayashi LC, Wardle J, Wolf MS, von Wagner C 2016. Aging and functional health literacy: a systematic review and meta-analysis. J. Gerontol. Ser. B 71:445–57 https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbu161
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  61. Korniotis GM, Kumar A. 2010. Cognitive abilities and financial decisions. Behavioral Finance: Investors, Corporations, and Markets HK Baker, JR Nofsinger 559–76 Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons
     [Google Scholar]
  62. Levin IP, Schneider SL, Gaeth GJ 1998. All frames are not created equal: a typology and critical analysis of framing effects. Organ. Behav. Hum. Decis. Process. 76:2149–88
     [Google Scholar]
  63. Li Y, Baldassi M, Johnson EJ, Weber EU 2013. Complementary cognitive abilities: economic decision making and aging. Psychol. Aging 28:595–613 https://doi.org/10.1037/a0034172
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  64. Li M, Chapman GB. 2013. Nudge to health: harnessing decision research to promote health behavior. Soc. Personal. Psychol. Compass 7:187–98 https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.12019
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  65. Li Y, Gao J, Enkavi AZ, Zaval L, Weber EU, Johnson EJ 2015. Sound credit scores and financial decisions despite cognitive aging. PNAS 112:65–69 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1413570112
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  66. Li M, Peng H, Ji L 2020. Roles of cognitive load and self-relevance during emotional information searching on decision-making. J. Behav. Decis. Mak. 33:4 https://doi.org/10.1002/bdm.2169
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  67. Lindenberger U, Von Oertzen T, Ghisletta P, Hertzog C 2011. Cross-sectional age variance extraction: What's change got to do with it. ? Psychol. Aging 26:34–47 https://doi.org/10.1037/a0020525
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  68. Liu X, Shuster MM, Mikels JA, Stine-Morrow EA 2019. Doing what makes you happy: health message framing for younger and older adults. Exp. Aging Res. 45:4293–305 https://doi.org/10.1080/0361073X.2019.1627491
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  69. Löckenhoff CE, Carstensen LL. 2007. Aging, emotion, and health-related decision strategies: motivational manipulations can reduce age differences. Psychol. Aging 22:1134–46 https://doi.org/10.1037/0882-7974.22.1.134
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  70. Lusardi A, Mitchell OS. 2014. The economic importance of financial literacy: theory and evidence. J. Econ. Lit. 52:5–44 https://doi.org/10.1257/jel.52.1.5
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  71. Mata R, Josef AK, Hertwig R 2016. Propensity for risk taking across the life span and around the globe. Psychol. Sci. 27:2231–43 https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797615617811
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  72. Mata R, Nunes L. 2010. When less is enough: cognitive aging, information search, and decision quality in consumer choice. Psychol. Aging 25:289–98 https://doi.org/10.1037/a0017927
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  73. Meyer BJF, Talbot AP, Ranalli C 2007. Why older adults make more immediate treatment decisions about cancer than younger adults. Psychol. Aging 22:3505–24 https://doi.org/10.1037/0882-7974.22.3.505
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  74. Mikels JA, Cheung E, Cone J, Gilovich T 2013. The dark side of intuition: aging and increases in nonoptimal intuitive decisions. Emotion 13:2189–95 http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0030441
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  75. Mikels JA, Löckenhoff CE, Maglio SJ, Carstensen LL, Goldstein MK, Garber A 2010. Following your heart or your head: Focusing on emotions versus information differentially influences the decisions of younger and older adults. J. Exp. Psychol. Appl. 16:87–95 https://doi.org/10.1037/a0018500
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  76. Mikels JA, Reed AE, Simon KI 2009. Older adults place lower value on choice relative to young adults. J. Gerontol. Ser. B Psychol. Sci. Soc. Sci. 64:4443–46 https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbp021
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  77. Mikels JA, Shuster MM, Thai ST, Smith-Ray R, Waugh CE et al. 2016. Messages that matter: age differences in affective responses to framed health messages. Psychol. Aging 31:4409–14 https://doi.org/10.1037/pag0000040
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  78. Moye J, Marson DC, Edelstein B 2013. Assessment of capacity in an aging society. Am. Psychol. 68:3158–71 https://doi.org/10.1037/a0032159
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  79. Natl. Res. Counc 2000. The Aging Mind: Opportunities in Cognitive Research Washington, DC: Natl. Acad. Press https://doi.org/10.17226/9783
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  80. Notthoff N, Carstensen LL. 2014. Positive messaging promotes walking in older adults. Psychol. Aging 29:2329–41 https://doi.org/10.1037/a0036748
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  81. Osman M. 2004. An evaluation of dual-process theories of reasoning. Psychon. Bull. Rev. 11:988–1010 https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03196730
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  82. Parker AM, Bruine de Bruin W, Fischhoff B, Weller J 2018. Robustness of adult decision-making competence: evidence from two measures and an 11-year longitudinal study. J. Behav. Decis. Mak. 31:380–91 https://doi.org/10.1002/bdm.2059
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  83. Parker AM, Bruine de Bruin W, Fischhoff B 2015. Negative decision outcomes are more common among people with lower decision-making competence: an item-level analysis of the Decision Outcome Inventory (DOI). Front. Psychol. 6:363 https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00363
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  84. Parker AM, Fischhoff B. 2005. Decision‐making competence: external validation through an individual‐differences approach. J. Behav. Decis. Mak. 18:11–27 https://doi.org/10.1002/bdm.481
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  85. Payne JW, Bettman JR, Johnson EJ 1993. The Adaptive Decision Maker Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press
     [Google Scholar]
  86. Peters E. 2008. Numeracy and the perception and communication of risk. Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 1128:11–7 https://doi.org/10.1196/annals.1399.001
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  87. Peters E, Bruine de Bruin W 2012. Aging and decision skills. Judgment and Decision Making as a Skill: Learning, Development and Evolution MK Dhami, A Schlottmann, MR Waldmann 113–40 Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press
     [Google Scholar]
  88. Peters E, Hess TM, Västfjäll D, Auman C 2007. Adult age differences in dual information processes: implications for the role of affective and deliberative processes in older adults’ decision making. Perspect. Psychol. Sci. 2:1–23 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-6916.2007.00025.x
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  89. Peters E, Västfjäll D, Gärling T, Slovic P 2006. Affect and decision making: a “hot” topic. J. Behav. Decis. Mak. 19:79–85 https://doi.org/10.1002/bdm.528
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  90. Raiffa H. 1968. Decision Analysis Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley
     [Google Scholar]
  91. Reed AE, Chan L, Mikels JA 2014. Meta-analysis of the age-related positivity effect: age differences in preferences for positive over negative information. Psychol. Aging 29:11–15 https://doi.org/10.1037/a0035194
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  92. Reed AE, Mikels JA, Löckenhoff CE 2013. Preferences for choice across adulthood: age trajectories and potential mechanisms. Psychol. Aging 28:625–32 https://doi.org/10.1037/a0031399
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  93. Reyna VF. 2004. How people make decisions that involve risk: a dual-process approach. Curr. Dir. Psychol. Sci. 13:60–66 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0963-7214.2004.00275.x
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  94. Reyna VF, Farley F. 2006. Risk and rationality in adolescent decision making: implications for theory, practice, and public policy. Psychol. Sci. Public Interest 7:11–44 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1529-1006.2006.00026.x
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  95. Rosi A, Bruine de Bruin W, Del Missier F, Cavallini E, Russo R 2019. Decision-making competence in older and younger adults: Which cognitive abilities contribute to the application of decision rules?. Aging Neuropsychol. Cogn 26:174–89 https://doi.org/10.1080/13825585.2017.1418283
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  96. Rydzewska K, von Helversen B, Kossowska M, Magnuski M, Sedek G 2018. Age-related within-task adaptations in sequential decision making: considering cognitive and motivational factors. Psychol. Aging 33:297–314 https://doi.org/10.1037/pag0000239
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  97. Salthouse TA. 2012. Consequences of age-related cognitive decline. Annu. Rev. Psychol. 63:201–26 https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-120710-100328
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  98. Samanez-Larkin G, Mottola G, Heflin D, Yu L, Boyle P 2020. Overconfidence in financial knowledge associated with financial risk tolerance in older adults. PsyArXiv https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/p5gec
    [Crossref]
  99. Shamaskin AM, Mikels JA, Reed AE 2010. Getting the message across: age differences in the positive and negative framing of health care messages. Psychol. Aging 25:3746–51 https://doi.org/10.1037/a0018431
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  100. Simon HA. 1956. Rational choice and the structure of the environment. Psychol. Rev. 63:2129–38 https://doi.org/10.1037/h0042769
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  101. Stanovich KE, West RF. 1998. Cognitive ability and variation in selection task performance. Think. Reason. 4:3193–230 https://doi.org/10.1080/135467898394139
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  102. Stewart AJ, Healy JM. 1989. Linking individual development and social changes. Am. Psychol. 44:130–42 https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.44.1.30
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  103. Stewart CC, Yu L, Wilson RS, Bennett DA, Boyle PA 2018. Correlates of healthcare and financial decision making among older adults without dementia. Health Psychol 37:618–26 https://doi.org/10.1037/hea0000610
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  104. Strough J, Bruine de Bruin W, Parker AM, Karns T, Lemaster P et al. 2016. What were they thinking? Reducing sunk-cost bias in a life-span sample. Psychol. Aging 31:724–36 https://doi.org/10.1037/pag0000130
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  105. Strough J, Bruine de Bruin W, Peters E 2015a. New perspectives for motivating better decisions in older adults. Front. Psychol. 6:783 https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00783
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  106. Strough J, Karns TE, Schlosnagle L 2011a. Decision‐making heuristics and biases across the life span. Ann. NY Acad. Sci. 1235:157–74 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-6632.2011.06208.x
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  107. Strough J, Mehta CM, McFall JP, Schuller KL 2008. Are older adults less subject to the sunk-cost fallacy than younger adults. ? Psychol. Sci. 19:7650–52 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02138.x
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  108. Strough J, Parker AM, Bruine de Bruin W 2015b. Understanding life-span developmental changes in decision-making competence. Aging and Decision Making: Empirical and Applied Perspectives TM Hess, J Strough, CE Löckenhoff 235–57 San Diego, CA: Elsevier Acad.
     [Google Scholar]
  109. Strough J, Parker AM, Bruine de Bruin W 2019. Restricting future time perspective reduces failure to act after a missed opportunity. Psychol. Aging 34:2311–16 https://doi.org/10.1037/pag0000301
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  110. Strough J, Schlosnagle L, DiDonato L 2011b. Understanding decisions about sunk costs from older and younger adults’ perspectives. J. Gerontol. Ser. B Psychol. Sci. Soc. Sci. 66:6681–86 https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbr057
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  111. Strough J, Schlosnagle L, Karns T, Lemaster P, Pichayayothin N 2014. No time to waste: Restricting life‐span temporal horizons decreases the sunk‐cost fallacy. J. Behav. Decis. Mak. 27:178–94 https://doi.org/10.1002/bdm.1781
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  112. Tentori K, Osherson D, Hasher L, May C 2001. Wisdom and aging: irrational preferences in college students but not older adults. Cognition 81:3B87–96 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0010-0277(01)00137-8
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  113. Thaler R, Sunstein C. 2008. Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness New Haven, CT: Yale Univ. Press
     [Google Scholar]
  114. Thomas AK, Millar PR. 2012. Reducing the framing effect in older and younger adults by encouraging analytic processing. J. Gerontol. Ser. B Psychol. Sci. Soc. Sci. 67:2139–49 https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbr076
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  115. Trevan LJ, Zikmund-Fisher BJ, Edwards A, Gaissmaier W, Galesic M et al. 2013. Presenting quantitative information about decision outcomes: a risk communication primer for patient decision aid developers. BMC Med. Inform. Decis. Mak. 13:Suppl. 2S7
     [Google Scholar]
  116. Tucker-Drob EM. 2019. Cognitive aging and dementia: a life-span perspective. Annu. Rev. Dev. Psychol. 1:177–96 https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-devpsych-121318-085204
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  117. Tversky A, Kahneman D. 1974. Judgment under uncertainty: heuristics and biases. Science 185:41571124–31 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.185.4157.1124
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-devpsych-051120-010038
Loading
Decision Making Across Adulthood
Annual Review of Developmental Psychology 2, 345 (2020); https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-devpsych-051120-010038
/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-devpsych-051120-010038
/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-devpsych-051120-010038
Loading

Data & Media loading...

  • Article Type: Review Article

Most Cited Most Cited RSS feed

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a Success
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error