Developmental patterns of change in the influence of safe and risky peer choices on risky decision‐making

Abstract

Adolescents take more risks when peers monitor their behavior. However, it is largely unknown how different types of peer influence affect adolescent decision-making. In this study, we investigate how information about previous choices of peers differentially influences decision-making in adolescence and young adulthood. Participants (N = 99, age range 12-22) completed an economic choice task in which choice options were systematically varied on levels of risk and ambiguity. On each trial, participants selected between a safer choice (low variability in outcome) and a riskier choice (high variability in outcome). Participants made choices in three conditions: a solo condition in which they made choices with no additional information, a social condition in which they saw choices of supposed peers, and a computer condition in which they saw choices of a computer. Results showed that participants' choices conform to the choices made by the peers, but not a computer. Furthermore, when peers chose the safe option, late adolescents were especially likely to make a safe choice. Conversely, when the peer made a risky choice, late adolescents were least likely to follow choices made by the peer. We did not find evidence for differential influence of social information on decisions depending on their level of risk and ambiguity. These results show that information about previous decisions of peers are a powerful modifier for behavior and that the effect of peers on adolescents' decisions is less ubiquitous and more specific than previously assumed.

The Cognitive Mechanisms That Drive Social Belief Updates During Adolescence

“…Past studies using lottery tasks with unknown outcome probabilities suggest that uncertainty tolerance decreases from adolescence to adulthood 16,17 . One study found that adolescents are more uncertainty tolerant than children and adults 18 (but see 19,20 ).…”

Social norms in adolescent risk engagement and recommendation

“…Recent studies support the idea that directly observing and copying others can explain at least some of these social influence effects, and that social influence may be stronger in younger individuals than in adults (Blankenstein et al, 2016;Braams et al, 2019;Simon Ciranka & van den Bos, 2019;Foulkes et al, 2018;Gardner & Steinberg, 2005;Knoll et al, 2015;Smith et al, 2014). Notably, social influence has previously shown to be stronger for safety-promoting than for risky behaviour for most individuals (Braams et al, 2019;Simon Ciranka & van den Bos, 2019) in confined experimental settings. However, these experiments addressed only part of the complex dynamics of social influence, leaving several questions unanswered.…”

“…Experimental evidence suggests that adolescents are more likely than members of other age groups to directly copy observed peer behaviour (Blankenstein et al, 2016;Braams et al, 2019;. It is not known whether adolescents are also NORMS IN ADOLESCENT RISK ENGAGEMENT 4 more likely to actively encourage risk-taking, or whether they are more sensitive to perceived risk-norms (in absence of overt peer behavior) than are people of other ages.…”

Information about others’ choices selectively alters risk tolerance and medial prefrontal cortex activation across adolescence and young adulthood

“…Knowledge about the previous decisions of others in a similar situation can influence whether we judge it acceptable to drive. Prior experimental studies have shown that people are prone to follow previous decisions of others (Albert, Chein, & Steinberg, 2013;Blankenstein et al, 2016;Braams et al, 2019;Hoorn, Fuligni, Crone, & Galvan, 2016).…”

“…Previous work has shown that information about others' choices has a robust influence on decision making. Seeing information about others' previous choices makes one more likely to also select that option, an effect seen in the more safe (Braams, Davidow, & Somerville, 2019) as well as the more risky direction (Chung, Christopoulos, King-Casas, Ball, & Chiu, 2015). In this study, we investigate how seeing information about others' previous choices specifically affects attitudes towards risk and ambiguity.…”