The impact of age-related stereotypes on risky decision-making in the balloon analogue risk task: shifts in prior beliefs rather than loss aversion.

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 underl...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Publicado en:Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences & Social Sciences Vol. 81; no. 5; pp. 1 - 11
Autores principales: Lu, Yi, Liao, Shuyao, Ma, Gu, Guo, Zheng, Li, Tianyuan, Zhou, Yatian, Sun, Yue Yang, Zhang, Xin
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Oxford University Press / USA May2026
Materias:
Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
fields @attributes:
  recordID: 1
pdfLink:
plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=193839358&site=ehost-live
header:
  @attributes:
    shortDbName: ssf
    uiTerm: 193839358
    longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson)
    uiTag: AN
  controlInfo:
    bkinfo:
    jinfo:
      jid:
        10795014
        JGB
      jtl: Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences & Social Sciences
      issn: 10795014
      maglogo: N
    pubinfo:
      dt: May2026
      vid: 81
      iid: 5
      pid: 622
      pub: Oxford University Press / USA
    artinfo:
      ui:
        193839358
        10.1093/geronb/gbag045
      ppf: 1
      ppct: 10
      formats:
      tig:
        atl: The impact of age-related stereotypes on risky decision-making in the balloon analogue risk task: shifts in prior beliefs rather than loss aversion.
      aug:
        au:
          Lu, Yi
          Liao, Shuyao
          Ma, Gu
          Guo, Zheng
          Li, Tianyuan
          Zhou, Yatian
          Sun, Yue Yang
          Zhang, Xin
        affil:
          Department of Psychology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, United States
          School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, ChinaBeijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing, China
          School of Humanities and Social Science, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, China
      su:
        China
        Risk-taking behavior
        Task performance
        Health attitudes
        Decision making
        Randomized controlled trials
        Attitude (Psychology)
        Ageism
        Analysis of variance
        Psychological tests
        Cognition
        Statistical power analysis
        Research funding
        Data analysis
        Statistical sampling
        Questionnaires
        Descriptive statistics
        Statistics
        Comparative studies
        Data analysis software
        Risk perception
      sug:
        subj:
          Risk-taking behavior
          Task performance
          Health attitudes
          Decision making
          Randomized controlled trials
          Attitude (Psychology)
          Ageism
          Analysis of variance
          Psychological tests
          Cognition
          China
          Marketing Research and Public Opinion Polling
          Statistical power analysis
          Research funding
          Data analysis
          Statistical sampling
          Questionnaires
          Descriptive statistics
          Statistics
          Comparative studies
          Data analysis software
          Risk perception
      keyword:
        Aging stereotypes
        Hierarchical Bayesian modeling
        Loss aversion
        Prior beliefs of risk
        Risk preference
        Aging stereotypes
        Hierarchical Bayesian modeling
        Loss aversion
        Prior beliefs of risk
        Risk preference
      ab: 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 (M = 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.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype: Article
      src: R
    language: English
    refInfo:
    copyright:
      @attributes:
        flag: N
    holdings:
      @attributes:
        islocal: N