Effect of Age on Susceptibility to Attraction Effect in Sequential Risky Decision-Making

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dc.abstract.enOur study aims to contribute to the existing body of research on age-related changes in decision-making by investigating susceptibility to the attraction effect across adulthood. Prior studies have produced inconsistent conclusions regarding the decision-making abilities of older individuals with some portraying them as easily manipulated and risk-averse, while others suggest the opposite. To address this issue, we conducted two experiments using a novel paradigm of the roulette task: (1) in an online environment with 357 participants and (2) in a laboratory setting with 173 participants. The results were consistent and demonstrated the robustness of the attraction effect. However, no age differences in susceptibility to the attraction effect as a common decision bias were found. As predicted, older adults were more likely to commit simple decision-making mistakes, especially in the preliminary trials, and which could have serious financial or societal consequences. Additionally, older adults exhibited more risk-seeking behaviours. Furthermore, we observed that the dynamics of decision competence (as indicated by a decrease in the selection of erroneous decoy options and an increase in decision fluency) were similar for both younger and older adults, suggesting the preservation of the ability to optimise decision-making while becoming familiar with new tasks. These findings provide insight into the cognitive functioning of older adults and indicate that decision-making abilities in late adulthood may be more complex than commonly assumed.
dc.affiliationWydział Psychologii i Prawa w Poznaniu
dc.affiliationInstytut Psychologii
dc.affiliationWydział Projektowania w Warszawie
dc.affiliationWydział Psychologii we Wrocławiu
dc.affiliationWydział Psychologii w Warszawie
dc.contributor.authorKościelniak, Maciej
dc.contributor.authorRydzewska, Klara
dc.contributor.authorGąsiorowska, Agata
dc.contributor.authorSędek, Grzegorz
dc.date.access2024-09-13
dc.date.accessioned2025-08-01T08:49:06Z
dc.date.available2025-08-01T08:49:06Z
dc.date.created2024-06-11
dc.date.issued2025-08
dc.description.accesstimebefore_publication
dc.description.issue8
dc.description.physical1655-1682
dc.description.versionfinal_author
dc.description.volume45
dc.identifier.eissn1469-1779
dc.identifier.issn0144-686X
dc.identifier.urihttps://share.swps.edu.pl/handle/swps/870
dc.identifier.weblinkcambridge.org/core/journals/ageing-and-society
dc.languageen
dc.pbn.affiliationpsychologia
dc.rightsCC-BY-NC-ND
dc.rights.questionYes_rights
dc.share.articleOPEN_JOURNAL
dc.subject.enageing
dc.subject.enattraction effect
dc.subject.enrisk
dc.subject.endecision-making
dc.swps.sciencecloudsend
dc.titleEffect of Age on Susceptibility to Attraction Effect in Sequential Risky Decision-Making
dc.title.journalAgeing & Society
dc.typeJournalArticle
dspace.entity.typeArticle