Background: Older adults are stereotypically considered to be risk averse compared to younger age groups, although meta-analyses on age and the influence of gain/loss framing on risky choices have not found empirical evidence for age differences in risk-taking. Objective: The current study extends the investigation of age differences in risk preference by including analyses on the effect of the probability of a risky option on choices in gain versus loss situations. Methods: Participants (n = 130 adults aged 19–80 years) chose between a certain option and a risky option of varying probability in gain- and loss-framed gambles with actual monetary outcomes. Results: Only younger adults displayed an overall framing effect. Younger and older adults responded differently to probability fluctuations depending on the framing condition. Older adults were more likely to choose the risky option as the likelihood of avoiding a larger loss increased and as the likelihood of a larger gain decreased. Younger adults responded with the opposite pattern: they were more likely to choose the risky option as the likelihood of a larger gain increased and as the likelihood of avoiding a (slightly) larger loss decreased. Conclusion: Results suggest that older adults are more willing to select a risky option when it increases the likelihood that larger losses be avoided, whereas younger adults are more willing to select a risky option when it allows for slightly larger gains. This finding supports expectations based on theoretical accounts of goal orientation shifting away from securing gains in younger adulthood towards maintenance and avoiding losses in older adulthood. Findings are also discussed in respect to the affective enhancement perspective and socioemotional selectivity theory.

Keywords:
Decision-making, Framing effects, Loss avoidance, Goal orientation, Adulthood
1.
Hanoch Y, Rolison JJ, Freund AM: Does medical risk perception and risk taking change with age? Risk Anal 2016, DOI: 10.1111/risa.12692.
2.
Bonem EM, Ellsworth PC, Gonzalez R: Age differences in risk: perceptions, intentions, and domains. J Behav Decis Mak 2015; 28: 317–330.
3.
Mata R, Josef AK, Hertwig R: Propensity for risk taking across the life span and around the globe. Psychol Sci 2016; 27: 231–243.
4.
Roalf DR, Mitchell SH, Harbaugh WT, Janowsky JS: Risk, reward, and economic decision making in aging. J Gerontol B Psychol 2012; 67: 289–298.
5.
Rolison JJ, Hanoch Y, Wood S, Liu PJ: Risk-taking differences across the adult life span: a question of age and domain. J Gerontol B Psychol 2014; 69: 870–880.
6.
Rosman A, Garcia M, Lee S, Butler S, Schwartz A: DOSPERT+M: A survey of medical risk attitudes in the United States. Judgm Decis Mak 2013; 8: 470–481.
7.
Josef AK, Richter D, Samanez-Larkin GR, Wagner GG, Hertwig R, Mata, R: Stability and change in risk-taking propensity across the adult life span. J Pers Soc Psychol 2016; 111: 430–450.
8.
Freund AM, Ebner NC: The aging self: shifting from promoting gains to balancing losses; in Greve W, Rothermund K, Wentura D (eds): The Adaptive Self: Personal Continuity and Intentional Self-Development. Ashland, Hogrefe and Huber, 2005, pp 185–202.
9.
Staudinger UM, Marsiske M, Baltes PB: Resilience and reserve capacity in later adulthood: potentials and limits of development across the life span; in Cicchetti D, Cohen DJ (eds): Developmental Psychopathology. Vol. 2: Risk, Disorder, and Adaptation New York, Wiley, 1995, pp 801–847.
10.
Kühberger A, Schulte-Mecklenbeck M, Perner J: The effects of framing, reflection, probability, and payoff on risk preference in choice tasks. Organ Behav Hum Dec 1999; 78: 204–231.
11.
Tverksy A, Kahneman D: The framing of decisions and the psychology of choice. Science 1981; 211: 453–458.
12.
Kahneman D, Tversky A: Prospect theory: an analysis of decision under risk. Econometrica 1979; 47: 263–291.
13.
Mata R, Hertwig R: How to model age-related motivational reorientations in risky choice. Hum Dev 2011; 54: 368–375.
14.
Carstensen LL, Mikels JA: The intersection of emotion and cognition. Aging and the positivity effect. Curr Dir Psychol Sci 2005; 14: 117–121.
15.
Freund AM: Age-differential motivational consequences of optimization versus compensation focus in younger and older adults. Psychol Aging 2006; 21: 240–252.
16.
Depping MK, Freund AM: Normal aging and decision making: the role of motivation. Hum Dev 2011; 54: 349–367.
17.
Mata R, Josef AK, Samanez-Larkin GR, Hertwig R: Age differences in risky choice: a meta-analysis. Ann NY Acad Sci 2011; 1235: 18–29.
18.
Best R, Charness N: Age differences in the effect of framing on risky choice: a meta-analysis. Psychol Aging 2015; 30: 688–698.
19.
Mather M, Mazar N, Gorlick MA, Lighthall NR, Burgeno J, Schoeke A, Ariely D: Risk preferences and aging: the “certainty effect” in older adults’ decision making. Psychol Aging 2012; 27: 801–816.
20.
Fox CR, Poldrack RA: Prospect theory and the brain; in Glimcher PW, Camerer CF, Fehr E, Poldrack RA (eds): Neuroeconomics. Decision Making and the Brain. London, Elsevier 2009, pp 145–173.
21.
Mishra S, Barclay P, Sparks A: The relative state model: Integrating need-based and ability-based pathways to risk-taking. Pers Soc Psychol Rev 2017; 21: 176–198.
22.
Freund AM, Blanchard-Fields F: Age-related differences in altruism across adulthood: making personal financial gain versus contributing to the public good. Dev Psychol 2014; 50: 1125–1136.
23.
Weber EU, Blais AR, Betz N: A domain-specific risk-attitude scale: measuring risk perceptions and risk behaviors. J Behav Decis Mak 2002; 15: 263–290.
24.
Fagerlin A, Zikmund-Fisher BJ, Ubel PA, Jankovic A, Derry HA, Smith DM: Measuring numeracy without a math test: development of the subjective numeracy scale. Med Decis Making 2007; 27: 672–680.
25.
Bates D, Maechler M, Bolker B, Walker S: Fitting linear mixed-effects models using lme4. J Stat Softw 2015; 67: 1–48.
26.
Kuznetsova A, Brockhoff PB, Christensen RHB: lmerTest Package: Tests in Linear Mixed Effects Models. R J Stat Softw 2017; 82: 1–26.
27.
R Core Team: R: A Language and Environment for Statistical Computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, 2016. https://www.R-project.org/.
28.
RStudio Team: RStudio: Integrated Development for R. RStudio, Inc., Boston, 2016. http://www.rstudio.com/.
29.
Peters E, Hess TM, Västfjäll D, Auman C: Adult age differences in dual information processes: implications for the role of affective and deliberative processes in older adults’ decision making. Perspect Psychol Sci 2007; 2: 1–23.
30.
Hess TM: A prospect theory-based evaluation of dual-process influences on aging and decision making: support for a contextual perspective; in Hess TM, Strough J, Loeckenhoff CE (eds): Aging and Decision Making: Empirical and Applied Perspectives, New York, Elsevier, 2015, pp 189–212.
31.
Lauriola M, Levin IP: Personality traits and risky decision-making in a controlled experimental task: an exploratory study. Pers Indiv Differ 2001; 31: 215–226.
32.
Mikels JA, Reed AE: Monetary losses do not loom large in later life: age differences in the framing effect. Psychol Sci 2009; 64: 457–460.
33.
Thomas AK, Millar PR: Reducing the framing effect in older and younger adults by encouraging analytic processing. J Gerontol B Psychol 2012; 67: 139–149.
34.
Tymula A, Belmaker LAR, Ruderman L, Glimcher PW, Levy I: Like cognitive function, decision making across the life span shows profound age-related changes. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2013; 110: 17143–17148.
35.
Hubbard J, Harbaugh WT, Srivastava S, Degras D, Mayr U: A general benevolence dimension that links neural, psychological, economic, and life-span data on altruistic tendencies. J Exp Psychol Gen 2016; 145: 1351–1358.
36.
McCarthy J: Just over half of Americans own stocks, matching record low. Washington, DC, Gallup Organization. http://www.gallup.com/poll/190883/half-americans-own-stocks-matching-record-low.aspx.
37.
Hanna S, Chen P: Subjective and objective risk tolerance: implications for optimal portfolios. J Financ Couns Plann 1997; 8: 17–26.
38.
Rothman AJ, Salovey P: Shaping perceptions to motivate healthy behavior: the role of message framing. Psychol Bull 1997; 121: 3–19.
39.
Steiger A: “Wer hat Angst vor Verlusten?” Altersbezogene Unterschiede in der Risikobereitschaft bei monetären Entscheidungen (“Who is afraid of losses?” Age-related differences in risk propensity for monetary decisions); unpublished master’s thesis. University of Zurich, Zurich, 2016.
© 2018 S. Karger AG, Basel
2018
Copyright / Drug Dosage / Disclaimer
Copyright: All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be translated into other languages, reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, microcopying, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Drug Dosage: The authors and the publisher have exerted every effort to ensure that drug selection and dosage set forth in this text are in accord with current recommendations and practice at the time of publication. However, in view of ongoing research, changes in government regulations, and the constant flow of information relating to drug therapy and drug reactions, the reader is urged to check the package insert for each drug for any changes in indications and dosage and for added warnings and precautions. This is particularly important when the recommended agent is a new and/or infrequently employed drug.
Disclaimer: The statements, opinions and data contained in this publication are solely those of the individual authors and contributors and not of the publishers and the editor(s). The appearance of advertisements or/and product references in the publication is not a warranty, endorsement, or approval of the products or services advertised or of their effectiveness, quality or safety. The publisher and the editor(s) disclaim responsibility for any injury to persons or property resulting from any ideas, methods, instructions or products referred to in the content or advertisements.
You do not currently have access to this content.