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Choice Set Size Preference Across The Adult Life Span: The Role Of Self-Efficacy, Maximizing, And Motivation

dc.contributor.authorReed, Andrewen_US
dc.contributor.chairLoeckenhoff, Corinna Een_US
dc.contributor.committeeMemberMikels, Joseph Anthonyen_US
dc.contributor.committeeMemberReyna, Valerieen_US
dc.date.accessioned2012-06-28T20:56:27Z
dc.date.available2016-06-01T06:15:46Z
dc.date.issued2011-01-31en_US
dc.description.abstractAcross a variety of decision domains, older adults desire fewer options than younger adults, but underlying mechanisms of these age differences remain unknown. Three studies (total N = 586) were conducted to investigate the extent to which age differences in choice set size preferences are driven by decision-making self-efficacy, maximizing, motivational priorities, and other theoretically implicated covariates. First, a large-scale survey (Study 1) examined the age trajectory of, and underlying influences on, choice set size preferences in a life-span sample. Subsequent laboratory-based experiments (Studies 2a-2c) manipulated self-efficacy, maximizing, and motivational priorities, respectively, among younger adults and measured effects on choice set size preferences and information search. Finally, a laboratory-based quasi-experimental design (Study 3) assessed the effect of experimentally manipulated self-efficacy on older versus younger adults' decision making. Combined results suggest that age differences in choice set size preferences are linear, gradual, and relatively domain-general. They are not mediated by any of the variables tested, with the exception of vocabulary scores, which accounted for 1.5% of variance in choice set size preferences above and beyond age. However, inter-individual differences, if not age differences, in choice set size preferences and information seeking may be amenable to altering via manipulations of decision-making self-efficacy. Implications for research on aging and decision-making, as well as public policy, are discussed.en_US
dc.identifier.otherbibid: 7745015
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1813/29196
dc.language.isoen_USen_US
dc.subjectChoiceen_US
dc.subjectDecision Makingen_US
dc.subjectAgingen_US
dc.titleChoice Set Size Preference Across The Adult Life Span: The Role Of Self-Efficacy, Maximizing, And Motivationen_US
dc.typedissertation or thesisen_US
thesis.degree.disciplineDevelopmental Psychology
thesis.degree.grantorCornell Universityen_US
thesis.degree.levelDoctor of Philosophy
thesis.degree.namePh. D., Developmental Psychology

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