Department of Psychology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695-7801, USA.
J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2013 Sep;68(5):703-11. doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbs108. Epub 2012 Nov 29.
We investigated how information search strategies used to support decision making were influenced by self-related implications of the task to the individual. Consistent with the notion of selective engagement, we hypothesized that increased self-relevance would result in more adaptive search behaviors and that this effect would be stronger in older adults than in younger adults.
We examined search behaviors in 79 younger and 81 older adults using a process-tracing procedure with 2 different decision tasks. The impact of motivation (i.e., self-related task implications) was examined by manipulating social accountability and the age-related relevance of the task.
Although age differences in search strategies were not great, older adults were more likely than younger adults to use simpler strategies in contexts with minimal self-implications. Contrary to expectations, young and old alike were more likely to use noncompensatory than compensatory strategies, even when engaged in systematic search, with education being the most important determinant of search behavior.
The results support the notion that older adults are adaptive decision makers and that factors other than age may be more important determinants of performance in situations where knowledge can be used to support performance.
我们调查了用于支持决策的信息搜索策略如何受到任务对个体的自身相关性的影响。与选择性参与的观点一致，我们假设自我相关性的增加将导致更适应的搜索行为，并且这种效应在老年人中比在年轻人中更强。
我们使用 2 种不同的决策任务，通过过程追踪程序，对 79 名年轻和 81 名年长的成年人的搜索行为进行了研究。通过操纵社会责任感和任务与年龄的相关性，考察了动机（即任务与自身的相关性）的影响。
尽管搜索策略在年龄上的差异不大，但在自我相关性最小的情况下，老年人比年轻人更有可能使用更简单的策略。与预期相反，年轻人和老年人都更倾向于使用非补偿性策略而不是补偿性策略，即使他们在进行系统搜索时，受教育程度是搜索行为的最重要决定因素。
研究结果支持这样一种观点，即老年人是适应性决策者，在可以利用知识来支持表现的情况下，年龄以外的因素可能是决定表现的更重要因素。
