研究表明，年龄不一定会影响决策
Many people believe that getting older means losing a mental edge, leading to poor decision-making. But a new study from North Carolina State University shows that when it comes to making intuitive decisions – using your “gut instincts” – older adults fare as well as their juniors.
研究人员对年轻人（17-28岁）和社区居住的老年人（60-86岁）进行了测试 - 这意味着他们生活在社区中，而不是在疗养院中 - 看看他们在基于决策时如何做出决定直观评估。例如，要求研究参与者根据每个公寓的整体积极属性从公寓列表中进行选择。在这种情况下，年轻人和老年人同样擅长做出决定。
“但并非可以做出这样的方式，” NC State心理学教授，研究的合着者Thomas Hess博士说。“一些决定需要更积极的审议。例如，那些要求人们将重要信息与无关紧要的决定区分开的决定。”赫斯说，当涉及到更复杂的决策时，老年人面临的挑战比年轻的挑战更多。
In one portion of the study, participants were given a list of specific criteria to use in selecting an apartment. That list was then taken away, and each participant had to rely on his or her memory to incorporate the criteria into their decision-making.
However, there was considerable variation among the older adults who participated in the study – some did very well at the complex decision-making. “Older adults with a higher education did a better job of remembering specific criteria and utilizing them when they made decisions,” says lead author Tara Queen, a psychology Ph.D. student at NC State. “Ultimately, they made better choices.”
赫斯说：“这告诉我们，年龄对决策的影响不是普遍的。”“在做出直观的决策时，例如从菜单中选择菜肴，年轻人和老年人都是相似的。在复杂的决策方面，年龄差异更有可能出现，例如基于复杂的信息选择医疗计划。但是即使那样，在受教育水平较低的人中，衰老的任何负面影响似乎都会更加明显。”
The research can be used to change the way we present information to older adults, Hess adds. Queen explains that “presenting older adults with overwhelming amounts of information is less beneficial to them. For example, different people have different priorities. Information can be broken down into categories. People could then decide which categories are most important to them, and dig down for additional information as needed.”
皇后和赫斯目前正在进行其他研究，以确切确定向老年人提供的信息的复杂性如何影响他们的决策 - 知识可以允许采取更具体的措施来帮助老年人继续做出良好的决定。
这项研究中,“年龄差异缺点的影响cious and Unconscious Thought in Decision Making,” was funded in part by the National Institute on Aging and the Retirement Research Foundation. The study is published in the June issue of心理学和衰老。
NC州立心理学系是该大学人文与社会科学学院的一部分。
- 船员 -
Note to editors:研究摘要如下。
“在决策中有意识和无意识思想影响的年龄差异”
作者：北卡罗来纳州立大学塔拉·皇后和托马斯·赫斯
出版：2010年6月，心理学和衰老
抽象的：研究了无意识和有意识的思想在决策中的作用，以检查（a）（a）与每种思想的功效以及（b）直觉与审议思想的年龄差异相关的（a）边界条件。向参与者介绍了两项决策任务，一项要求积极审议和另一个直观的处理。然后，在做出决定之前，年轻人和老年人从事有意识或无意识的思考处理。一项操纵检查表明，与老年人相比，年轻人对决策材料的表现更为准确，这在考虑到完整样本时占了与年龄相关的表现差异。当仅考虑准确的参与者时，当信息的性质与思想条件之间存在一致性时，决策是最好的。因此，当决定依靠直觉而不是审议处理时，无意识的思想更为合适，而相反的思想是正确的。尽管老年人表现出效率较低的审议处理，但他们在直观水平上处理信息的能力相对保留。此外，年轻人和老年人都表现出选择支持的记忆。
