Abstract
Objectives: Leaders in many organizations are older adults who routinely make decisions in social bargaining situations. However, we know little about the age-related differences in strategic decision making.
Methods: In the current study (n = 182), using a modified Prisoner's Dilemma game (PDG), we examined two important intrinsic motivations for non-cooperation: fear of betrayal and greedy desire to exploit other people among young and older Chinese Singaporeans.
Results: Results showed that compared with young adults, older adults demonstrated an intact greed motive but a diminished fear motive in the PDG.
Discussion: Our findings suggest a diminished sensitivity to social threat or potential losses due to betrayal in older adults' social decision making. Older adults may have a declined ability to assess social threats even though they retain the motivation to gain an exploitive advantage.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1699-1704 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| Journal | Journals of Gerontology - Series B Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences |
| Volume | 75 |
| Issue number | 8 |
| Early online date | 6 Sept 2019 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Oct 2020 |
Scopus Subject Areas
- Health(social science)
- Sociology and Political Science
- Life-span and Life-course Studies
User-Defined Keywords
- aging
- cooperation
- fear
- greed