ABSTRACT

Covid-19-related social-distancing measures have dramatically limited physical social contact between individuals and increased monetary and health concerns for individuals of all ages. We wondered how these new societal conditions would impact the choices individuals make about monetary, health, and social rewards, and if these unprecedented conditions would have a differential impact on older individuals. We conducted two online studies to examine temporal discounting of monetary, health, and social rewards; stated preferences for monetary, health, and social rewards; and physical distancing behaviors. Both studies recruited equal numbers of White/Caucasian, Black/African American, and Hispanic/Latinx participants. We found that older adults were more likely to prefer smaller, sooner social and health-related rewards in decision-making tasks. These data further support the assertion that older adults have increased motivation for social and health rewards compared to younger individuals and that these age differences in motivation are important to consider when examining decision-making across the adult life span.

摘要

与 Covid-19 相关的社会隔离措施极大地限制了个人之间的身体社交接触，并增加了所有年龄段个人对金钱和健康的担忧。我们想知道这些新的社会条件将如何影响个人对金钱、健康和社会奖励的选择，以及这些前所未有的条件是否会对老年人产生不同的影响。我们进行了两项在线研究来检验货币、健康和社会奖励的时间贴现；陈述对金钱、健康和社会奖励的偏好；和保持身体距离的行为。这两项研究招募了相同数量的白人/高加索人、黑人/非裔美国人和西班牙裔/拉丁裔参与者。我们发现老年人在决策任务中更有可能更喜欢更小、更早的社会和健康相关奖励。