title: Risky decision making across three arenas of choice: are younger and older adults differently susceptible to framing effects?
abstract: In the present study, the authors investigated the effects of framing of options on risky decision making in groups of younger adults (M = 23.8 years, n = 192) and older adults (M = 69.1 years, n = 192). The participants were assigned to one of three scenarios varying in the goods at stake (human lives, paintings, money). The authors observed a majority preference in favor of the risky options after negative, but not positive framing. They also found, as they had predicted, that the type of framing effect varied across scenarios, with a bidirectional framing effect for the life-death scenario and unidirectional (risk averse) framing effects when public property (paintings) or personal property (money) were at stake. It is important to note that these choice preference patterns were highly similar across the age groups, which reinforced the conclusion that younger and older adults are equally susceptible to framing effects.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Umeå University, Sweden. michael.ronnlund@psy.umu.se
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rönnlund
authors.forename: Erik
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Karlsson
authors.forename: Erica
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Laggnäs
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Larsson
authors.forename: Therese
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lindström
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D001290:Attitude; D002755:Choice Behavior; D003657:Decision Making; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012309:Risk-Taking