According to a new study, older people are more likely to be influenced by the impulsive financial preferences of others than their younger counterparts.
Research led by psychologists from the University of Birmingham and the University of Oxford, published today in Communication psychologyResearch shows that people aged 60 and over are more susceptible to influence from other people when it comes to making impulsive financial decisions than young adults between the ages of 18 and 36.
The study aimed to explore delayed gratification and how our willingness to wait and social influence develop and differ across our lifespan. To test how age affects this behavior, a group of 76 young adults (18-36 years) and 78 older adults (60-80 years) were recruited. These participants were carefully matched based on gender, intelligence and years of education. Older adults aged healthily and underwent thorough screening to ensure they were free of dementia or other factors that could affect their decision-making, regardless of age.
In an era of aging populations and increasing misinformation, it is critical to understand how aging affects people’s susceptibility to influence. A key area where people can be influenced is their preference to receive money sooner rather than later. This knowledge is essential for developing interventions that ensure that people make good financial choices throughout their lives.”
Patricia Lockwood, senior author and professor, University of Birmingham
All participants completed a decision-making task that required them to make a series of choices about two different options: an impulsive option that resulted in immediately receiving a smaller amount of money; or a more subdued form, in which a larger amount of money was received after some delay. Because one of these decisions would materialize as a bonus payment at the end of the experiment, participants knew their choices had real consequences, motivating them to reveal their real financial preferences.
After their initial decision, participants observed and learned about the choices made by two “other people” who had previously completed the same decision-making task (actually generated by a computer). One set of decisions favored the immediate, more impulsive options, while the other set leaned toward the delayed, more restrained options, compared to the participants’ own decisions. Finally, participants again made such decisions for themselves. This allowed the researchers to apply sophisticated mathematical models to accurately quantify participants’ financial preferences and assess how these preferences were influenced by others.
The results showed that older people were more sensitive to social influence, especially from the more impulsive person. After seeing someone who consistently chose the impulsive option, older adults were more likely to change their preference to make impulsive decisions on their own. Younger adults, on the other hand, were more resistant to such influences and often stuck with their original preference even after seeing someone repeatedly choose the impulsive option.
The researchers also measured people’s self-reported emotional experiences to see if there were differences between people in how susceptible they were to social influence. Among older adults, those who reported higher levels of affective empathy (i.e., a greater ability to feel the emotions of others) and were more emotionally motivated were more strongly affected by impulsive social influence.
Senior author Professor Patricia Lockwood said: ‘These findings highlight that there may be important differences in the way older adults are affected by the financial decisions of others, compared to younger adults. If this is confirmed by further research, they could support evidence-based programs that support people to make wise financial decisions throughout their lives, and to recognize whether their own decisions may be negatively influenced by those around them.”
Lead author Zhilin Su noted, “In an era of widespread misinformation on social media, it is critical to understand the science behind social influence so that we can have a meaningful and positive impact on people’s lives.”