Chapter 12 - Understanding Life-Span Developmental Changes in Decision-Making Competence

Because the median age of the population is increasing in the United States and other nations, it is important to consider how older adults can maintain and potentially improve their decision-making competence despite well-documented age-related cognitive declines. In this chapter, we integrate prior work defining decision-making competence as a set of skills, and show how competence can be measured using a portfolio of validated laboratory tasks developed by decision scientists. We trace evolving views of the deliberative and affective underpinnings of decision-making competence, reviewing research that has assessed age differences. We then present a life-span model of decision-making competence that focuses on the role of motivation for understanding how age-related changes in cognition, affect, and experience may influence decision-making competence and review relevant research. We conclude by identifying specific research challenges, gaps in the literature, and opportunities for improving decision making among individuals across the life span.