Prior studies on older adults’ risk taking have paid little
attention to the healthcare domain or social influences on
decision making. This study examined age-related differences
in medication risk taking and the effects of a collaborative
decision-making experience on individuals’ tendency to take
risks. We recruited 24 younger (mean age = 19.50, SD = 1.41)
and 24 older adults (mean age = 70.54, SD = 2.30), and asked
them to choose between hypothetical medications that
differed in probabilities and outcomes of treatment success.
To investigate the effects of risk-neutral versus risk-
advantageous trials, participants chose between a risky option
and a sure option that had equal expected values (risk-neutral)
or between a risky option and a sure option that had a lower
expected value (risk-advantageous). Participants completed
the decision task first individually (the pre-collaboration
phase), then in dyads (the collaboration phase), and once
again individually (the post-collaboration phase). During the
pre-collaboration phase older adults showed a smaller
increase in risk-taking tendency in response to risk-
advantageous trials compared to younger adults. The pre-and
post-collaboration data showed that older adults’ risk
preferences converged towards their partner’s preference to a
greater extent following collaboration relative to younger
adults. These findings highlight the importance of designing
decision aids to encourage older adults to take risks when risk
taking is beneficial, and considering how social processes
influence patients’ medication decisions.