1
|
Su Z, Garvert MM, Zhang L, Manohar SG, Vogel TA, Thomas L, Balsters JH, Husain M, Apps MAJ, Lockwood PL. Older adults are relatively more susceptible to impulsive social influence than young adults. COMMUNICATIONS PSYCHOLOGY 2024; 2:87. [PMID: 39313518 PMCID: PMC11420232 DOI: 10.1038/s44271-024-00134-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/24/2024] [Accepted: 08/29/2024] [Indexed: 09/25/2024]
Abstract
People differ in their levels of impulsivity and patience, and these preferences are heavily influenced by others. Previous research suggests that susceptibility to social influence may vary with age, but the mechanisms and whether people are more influenced by patience or impulsivity remain unknown. Here, using a delegated inter-temporal choice task and Bayesian computational models, we tested susceptibility to social influence in young (aged 18-36, N = 76) and older (aged 60-80, N = 78) adults. Participants completed a temporal discounting task and then learnt the preferences of two other people (one more impulsive and one more patient) before making their choices again. We used the signed Kullback-Leibler divergence to quantify the magnitude and direction of social influence. We found that, compared to young adults, older adults were relatively more susceptible to impulsive social influence. Factor analyses showed that older adults with higher self-reported levels of affective empathy and emotional motivation were particularly susceptible to impulsive influence. Importantly, older and young adults showed similar learning accuracy about others' preferences, and their baseline impulsivity did not differ. Together, these findings suggest highly affectively empathetic and emotionally motivated older adults may be at higher risk for impulsive decisions, due to their susceptibility to social influence.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Zhilin Su
- Centre for Human Brain Health, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK.
| | - Mona M Garvert
- Faculty of Human Sciences, Junior professorship of Neuroscience, University of Würzburg, 97070, Würzburg, Germany
| | - Lei Zhang
- Centre for Human Brain Health, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK
- Institute for Mental Health, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK
- Centre for Developmental Sciences, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK
| | - Sanjay G Manohar
- Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 9DU, UK
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX2 6GG, UK
| | - Todd A Vogel
- Centre for Human Brain Health, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK
- Institute for Mental Health, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK
- Centre for Developmental Sciences, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK
| | - Louisa Thomas
- Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of London, Surrey, TW20 0EX, UK
| | - Joshua H Balsters
- Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of London, Surrey, TW20 0EX, UK
| | - Masud Husain
- Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 9DU, UK
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX2 6GG, UK
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 9DU, UK
| | - Matthew A J Apps
- Centre for Human Brain Health, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK
- Institute for Mental Health, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK
- Centre for Developmental Sciences, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK
- Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 9DU, UK
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX2 6GG, UK
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 9DU, UK
| | - Patricia L Lockwood
- Centre for Human Brain Health, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK.
- Institute for Mental Health, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK.
- Centre for Developmental Sciences, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK.
- Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 9DU, UK.
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX2 6GG, UK.
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 9DU, UK.
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Rydzewska K, Nielek R, Pawłowska J, Wierzbicki A, Sedek G. Performance of aging consumers in an e-commerce product choice task: The role of working memory and decision strategies. PLoS One 2024; 19:e0303806. [PMID: 38905168 PMCID: PMC11192353 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0303806] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/19/2023] [Accepted: 05/01/2024] [Indexed: 06/23/2024] Open
Abstract
Over the past two decades, there has been a growing interest in research on aging and the decision-making behavior of older consumers. The subject of this article is multi-attribute decisions made using product comparison, a widely used functionality of many e-commerce stores. Studies on cognitive aging have established a negative relationship between age and accuracy in multi-attribute choice tasks; however, works in informatics (Human-Computer Interaction, UX research) have not accounted for how individual user differences affect the optimality of users' product comparison decisions. Our work attempts to bridge this gap between the disciplines of psychology of aging and informatics. We predicted and confirmed, in an online study simulating e-commerce shopping, the strong limitations of older adults in product comparison tasks. In subsequent modeling, other individual characteristics, such as visual working memory, were predicted and shown to be a reliable mediator of the relationship between age and decision accuracy. Popular product comparison tables are not sufficient for older consumers. Despite following UX guidelines for designing product comparison tables, overall correctness of consumer decisions in our study ranged from 90% to as little as 30%, depending on the difficulty of the task and the age of the consumer. These findings have important practical implications for UX design of e-commerce Websites.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Klara Rydzewska
- Interdisciplinary Center for Applied Cognitive Studies, SWPS University, Warszawa, Poland
| | | | | | - Adam Wierzbicki
- Polish-Japanese Academy of Information Technology, Warszawa, Poland
| | - Grzegorz Sedek
- Interdisciplinary Center for Applied Cognitive Studies, SWPS University, Warszawa, Poland
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Cutler J, Nitschke JP, Lamm C, Lockwood PL. Older adults across the globe exhibit increased prosocial behavior but also greater in-group preferences. NATURE AGING 2021; 1:880-888. [PMID: 37118329 PMCID: PMC10154238 DOI: 10.1038/s43587-021-00118-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2021] [Accepted: 08/11/2021] [Indexed: 04/30/2023]
Abstract
Population aging is a global phenomenon with substantial implications across society1,2. Prosocial behaviors-actions that benefit others-promote mental and physical health across the lifespan3,4 and can save lives during the COVID-19 pandemic. We examined whether age predicts prosociality in a preregistered global study (46,576 people aged 18-99 across 67 countries) using two acutely relevant measures: distancing during COVID-19 and willingness to donate to hypothetical charities. Age positively predicted prosociality on both measures, with increased distancing and donations among older adults. However, older adults were more in-group focused than younger adults in choosing who to help, making larger donations to national over international charities and reporting increased in-group preferences. In-group preferences helped explain greater national over international donations. Results were robust to several control analyses and internal replication. Our findings have vital implications for predicting the social and economic impacts of aging populations, increasing compliance with public health measures and encouraging charitable donations.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jo Cutler
- Centre for Human Brain Health, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK.
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
| | - Jonas P Nitschke
- Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
- Department of Psychology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
| | - Claus Lamm
- Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Patricia L Lockwood
- Centre for Human Brain Health, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK.
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
- Christ Church, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Koscielniak M, Rydzewska K, Sedek G. Effects of Age and Initial Risk Perception on Balloon Analog Risk Task: The Mediating Role of Processing Speed and Need for Cognitive Closure. Front Psychol 2016; 7:659. [PMID: 27199877 PMCID: PMC4858589 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00659] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/26/2015] [Accepted: 04/20/2016] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
According to the dual-process theoretical perspective adopted in the presented research, the efficiency of deliberative processes in decision making declines with age, but experiential processes are relatively well-preserved. The age-related differences in deliberative and experiential processes in risky decision-making were examined in this research by applying the Balloon Analog Risk Task (BART). We analyzed the influence of age on risk acceptance and decision-making performance in two age groups of female participants (younger adults, n = 81; older adults, n = 76), with additional experimental manipulation of initial risk perception. We predicted and confirmed that aging significantly worsens performance on the behavioral BART measures due to age-related decline in deliberative processes. Older participants were found to exhibit significantly higher risk aversion and lower BART performance, and the effect of age was mediated by cognitive (processing speed) and motivational (need for cognitive closure) mechanisms. Moreover, older adults adapt to the initial failure (vs. success) similarly, as younger adults due to preserved efficiency of experiential processes. These results suggest future directions for minimizing negative effects of aging in risky decision-making and indicate compensatory processes, which are preserved during aging.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Maciej Koscielniak
- Interdisciplinary Center for Applied Cognitive Studies, Department of Psychology, SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities Warsaw, Poland
| | - Klara Rydzewska
- Interdisciplinary Center for Applied Cognitive Studies, Department of Psychology, SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities Warsaw, Poland
| | - Grzegorz Sedek
- Interdisciplinary Center for Applied Cognitive Studies, Department of Psychology, SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities Warsaw, Poland
| |
Collapse
|