Objectives Research suggests that age is associated with greater loss aversion in risk decisions and that older adults’ loss aversion can be exacerbated by age-related stereotype threats. However, prior studies have predominantly focused on negative stereotypes and one-time decisions, and the underlying cognitive mechanisms remain unclear. This study expanded the literature by examining the effect of both positive and negative age-related stereotypes and the underlying cognitive mechanism in the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART), a well-established measure of experience-based risky decision-making.
Methods A total of 159 Chinese older adults (Mage = 67.09, 69% female) were randomly assigned to age-related stereotype priming conditions (positive vs negative vs neutral). After priming, participants completed the BART, including low- and high-risk conditions, to assess their risky decision-making performance. Computational modeling was applied to decompose the underlying cognitive processing of decision-making.
Results Consistent with prior findings, compared to the positive priming condition, older adults receiving negative priming were less risk-taking and pumped fewer times, but only in the low-risk condition. Computational modeling analyses further suggested that age-related stereotypes primarily influenced participants’ prior beliefs of risk. Older adults exposed to positive stereotypes held more optimistic prior beliefs of risk compared to their counterparts receiving negative stereotypes, while there was no significant priming effect of age-related stereotypes on loss-aversion or risk preference.
Discussion Findings suggest that age-related stereotypes influence older adults’ decision performance in the BART by shifting prior beliefs rather than altering risk or loss preferences, supporting the argument made by the stereotype internalization perspective.