title: Greater decision-making competence is associated with greater expected-value sensitivity, but not overall risk taking: an examination of concurrent validity.
abstract: Decision-making competence reflects individual differences in the susceptibility to committing decision-making errors, measured using tasks common from behavioral decision research (e.g., framing effects, under/overconfidence, following decision rules). Prior research demonstrates that those with higher decision-making competence report lower incidence of health-risking and antisocial behaviors, but there has been less focus on intermediate processes that may impact real-world decisions, and, in particular, those implicated by normative models. Here we test the associations between measures of youth decision-making competence (Y-DMC) and one such process, the degree to which individuals make choices consistent with maximizing expected value (EV). Using a task involving hypothetical gambles, we find that greater EV sensitivity is associated with greater Y-DMC. Higher Y-DMC scores are associated with (a) choosing risky options when EV favors those options and (b) avoiding risky options when EV favors a certain option. This relationship is stronger for gambles that involved potential losses. The results suggest that Y-DMC captures decision processes consistent with standard normative evaluations of risky decisions.
authors.affiliation: RAND Corporation Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Andrew M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Parker
authors.affiliation: School of Psychological Science, Oregon State University Corvallis, OR, USA ; Decision Research Eugene, OR, USA.
authors.forename: Joshua A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Weller
keywords: competence; decision making; expected value sensitivity; individual differences; risky choice