The Attraction Effect in Decision Making: Superior Performance by Older Adults

Lynn Hasher

108 citations0/0 files storedThe Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology Section A

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Decision-Making and Behavioral Economics Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies Aging and Gerontology Research

Abstract

Previous work showed that older adults' choice performance can be wiser than that of younger adults (Tentori, Osherson, Hasher, & May, 2001). We contrasted two possible interpretations: a general expertise/wisdom view that suggests that older adults are generally more skilled at making decisions than younger adults and a domain-specific expertise view that suggests that older adults are more skilled decision makers only in domains in which they have greater knowledge. These hypotheses were contrasted using attraction effect tasks in two different domains: earning extra credit in a course and grocery shopping, domains presumed to be of different levels of knowledge to younger and older adults. Older adults showed consistent choice for both domains; younger adults showed consistent choice only for the extra credit problem. Several explanations of these findings are considered, including Damasio's somatic marker theory and age differences in reliance on heuristic versus analytic styles.

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1999Dual-process theories in social psychology 2003A perspective on judgment and choice: Mapping bounded rationality.2000Individual differences in reasoning: Implications for the rationality debate?1988RATIONAL CHOICE AND THE FRAMING OF DECISIONS 1986Rational Choice and the Framing of Decisions 1993The Adaptive Decision Maker 2016Handbook of the Psychology of Aging 1994The Adaptive Decision Maker

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2007Practical Wisdom and Business Ethics 2015Aging and decision making : empirical and applied perspectives 2012Age and Self-Relevance Effects on Information Search During Decision Making 2008Age-related changes in the neural mechanisms supporting emotion processing and emotional memory 2008Age differences in dual information-processing modes 2015Complementary Contributions of Fluid and Crystallized Intelligence to Decision Making Across the Life Span

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