Journal article
Developmental changes and individual differences in risk and perspective taking in adolescence
Development and psychopathology, Vol.20(4), pp.1213-1229
2008
DOI: 10.1017/S0954579408000588
PMID: 18838039
Abstract
Despite the assumed prevalence of risk-taking behavior in adolescence, the laboratory evidence of risk taking remains scarce, and the individual variation poorly understood. Drawing from neuroscience studies, we tested whether risk and reward orientation are influenced by the perspective that adolescents take when making risky decisions. Perspective taking was manipulated by cuing participants prior to each choice whether the decision was made for "self," or from the perspective of an "other" (the experimenter in Experiment 1; a hypothetical peer in Experiment 2). In Experiment 1, we show a developmental decrease in risk-taking behavior across different stages of adolescence. In addition, all age groups made fewer risky choices for the experimenter, but the difference between self and other was larger in early adolescence. In Experiment 2, we show that high sensation-seeking (SS) adolescents make more risky choices than low SS adolescents, but both groups make a similar differentiation for other individuals (low risk-taking or high risk-taking peers). Together, the results show that younger adolescents and high SS adolescents make more risky choices for themselves, but can appreciate that others may make fewer risky choices. The developmental change toward more rational decisions versus emotional, impulsive decisions may reflect, in part, more efficient integration of others' perspectives into one's decision making. These developmental results are discussed regarding brain systems important for risk taking and perspective taking.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Developmental changes and individual differences in risk and perspective taking in adolescence
- Creators
- Eveline A Crone - Leiden University Institute for Psychological Research, The Netherlands. ecrone@fsw.leidenuniv.nlL BullensE A A van der PlasE J KijkuitP D Zelazo
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Development and psychopathology, Vol.20(4), pp.1213-1229
- Publisher
- United States
- DOI
- 10.1017/S0954579408000588
- PMID
- 18838039
- ISSN
- 0954-5794
- eISSN
- 1469-2198
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 2008
- Academic Unit
- Psychiatry
- Record Identifier
- 9984003966702771
Metrics
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