eprintid: 11361
rev_number: 23
eprint_status: archive
userid: 1
dir: disk0/00/01/13/61
datestamp: 2010-12-03 14:15:52
lastmod: 2016-01-16 23:51:42
status_changed: 2012-08-15 08:56:30
type: workingPaper
metadata_visibility: show
creators_name: Sproten, Alec
creators_name: Diener, Carsten
creators_name: Fiebach, Christian
creators_name: Schwieren, Christiane
title: Aging and decision making: How aging affects decisions under uncertainty
ispublished: pub
subjects: ddc-330
divisions: i-181000
keywords: Age differences , experiment , risk and uncertainty
abstract: In an aging society, it becomes more and more important to understand how aging affects decision making. Older adults have to face many situations that require consequential financial decisions. In the present study, we examined the effects of aging on decisions in two domains of uncertainty: risk and ambiguity. For this purpose, a group of young and older adults played a card game which was composed of risky and ambiguous conditions. In the risk condition, participants knew the probabilities to win or loose the game (i.e. full information), whereas in the ambiguous condition, these probabilities were unknown (thus, there was lack of information). When confronted with risky decisions, the behaviour of older and young adults (measured by the number of times participants chose a gamble instead of a sure amount of money) did not differ. In contrast, under ambiguity, there were significant age-effects in decision making: older people were less ambiguity-averse than young subjects. We conclude that there exist differences in uncertainty-processing between young and older adults, and discuss possible explanations of these differences.
abstract_translated_lang: eng
class_scheme: jel
class_labels: J14, C91
date: 2010
date_type: published
id_scheme: DOI
id_number: 10.11588/heidok.00011361
schriftenreihe_cluster_id: sr-3
schriftenreihe_order: 0508
ppn_swb: 1650662726
own_urn: urn:nbn:de:bsz:16-opus-113615
language: eng
bibsort: SPROTENALEAGINGANDDE2010
full_text_status: public
citation:   Sproten, Alec ; Diener, Carsten ; Fiebach, Christian ; Schwieren, Christiane  (2010) Aging and decision making: How aging affects decisions under uncertainty.  [Working paper]     
document_url: https://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/volltextserver/11361/1/Sproten_2010_dp508.pdf