Citation

Blankenstein NE, Crone EA, van den Bos W, van Duijvenvoorde AC. Dev. Neuropsychol. 2016; 41(1-2): 77-92.

Affiliation

a Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology , Institute of Psychology, Leiden University , Leiden , the Netherlands.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/87565641.2016.1158265

PMID

27028162

Abstract

Attitudes to risk (known probabilities) and attitudes to ambiguity (unknown probabilities) are separate constructs that influence decision making, but their development across adolescence remains elusive. We administered a choice task to a wide adolescent age-range (N = 157, 10-25 years) to disentangle risk- and ambiguity-attitudes using a model-based approach. Additionally, this task was played in a social context, presenting choices from a high risk-taking peer. We observed age-related changes in ambiguity-attitude, but not risk-attitude. Also, ambiguity-aversion was negatively related to real-life risk taking. Finally, the social context influenced only risk-attitudes. These results highlight the importance of disentangling risk- and ambiguity-attitudes in adolescent risk taking.

Language: en