Social Decision Making Across the Lifespan

Title: Social Decision Making Across the Lifespan Authors: Rachel A. Brodsky, Abi Heller, Janelle N. Beadle Funding: FUSE Grant through UNO Abstract: 248/250 word max Social context can affect how we share our financial resources with others. For instance, situations that evoke empathy are likely to elicit prosocial (helping) behavior towards a person in need. Furthermore, individual differences in empathy and fairness beliefs may also influence prosocial behavior. In this study, we investigated older adults’ prosocial behavior in a social context towards a person who was excluded versus included, and examined the role of empathy and fairness. Participants included 29 healthy older adults (55-90 years) who played Cyberball, a computer game in which they viewed 3 players socially interacting in a ball tossing game. Participants watched two conditions: (1) inclusion, where the target player was included in the game, and (2) exclusion, where the target player was not included. After each game, participants chose whether to keep the raffle tickets for themselves, give them to one of the other players, or donate them to the group (tickets were multiplied by 1.5 and distributed equally). In the inclusion condition, we found preliminary evidence that more participants gave their tickets to the excluded person than kept them for themselves (p=.05). In addition, we found preliminary evidence that in the inclusion condition more participants donated their raffle tickets to the group than to individual players in the game (p=.005). There was a significant, positive relationship between trait perspective taking and beliefs of procedural justice related to the self [r(29)=.4, p=.03]. Our results have implications for prosocial behavior in social contexts in which a person is suffering