Leiden University Scholarly Publications

Blankenstein, N.E.; Crone, E.A.; Bos, W. van den; Duijvenvoorde, A.C.K. van (2016)

Dealing with uncertainty: Testing risk-and ambiguity-attitude across adolescence

Article / Letter to editor

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.

All authors

Blankenstein, N.E.; Crone, E.A.; Bos, W. van den; Duijvenvoorde, A.C.K. van

Date

2016-12-31

Journal

Developmental Neuropsychology

Volume

41

Issue

1-2

Pages

77 - 92

DOI

doi:10.1080/87565641.2016.1158265

Link

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/87565641.2016.1158265