Contextual influences on risk-taking in children and adults

TL;DR

The study shows that both children and adults change their risk preferences based on context, similar to non-human primates.

Contribution

The novel contribution is identifying contextual risk-preference shifts in humans and linking them to cognitive mechanisms like exploration and framing effects.

Findings

Human participants showed context-dependent risk preferences similar to non-human primates.

Children exhibited more pronounced shifts in risk preference based on context.

Exploration and framing effects were identified as potential cognitive mechanisms for the preference shifts.

Abstract

Human risk-taking is well known to be influenced by context-dependent factors. In a previous study, we demonstrated that non-human primates similarly exhibit contextual risk-preference: two species of great apes showed risk-prone or risk-neutral choices depending on the manner in which risk was presented. Here, we applied the same experimental paradigm to human participants across different age groups using a computerized online interface. Consistent with the findings in great apes, we observed shifts in risk preference contingent on the experimental context, with these effects particularly pronounced in children. In a subsequent experiment, we explored potential cognitive mechanisms underlying this preference shift, identifying a general propensity for exploration and framing effects as promising explanatory factors common to both humans and animals.

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