TY - GEN
T1 - The ecological rationality of children's option generation and decision making
AU - Musculus, Lisa
AU - Ruggeri, Azzurra
AU - Raab, Markus
AU - Lobinger, Babett
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© CogSci 2017.
PY - 2017
Y1 - 2017
N2 - In everyday life, before deciding what to do, one has to think about what could be done. We investigate option generation from a developmental perspective, testing the predictions of the Take-The-First-heuristic (TTF). Moreover, we examine the influence of time limitation on decision-making processes. Using soccer as a testbed, 6- to 13-year-old children (N = 97) were tested in a video-based option-generation paradigm. Children's performance was aligned with predictions of TTF: Children generated a mean of 2.21 options, did so in a meaningful way and selected the first as final option in 74%. With shorter time, children generated fewer and higher quality options, selected better options and more often the first option as final decision. Further, with age, an increase of the number of options generated and an increase in quality of the final decisions emerged. This age effect was more pronounced with shorter time. Implications for real-life decision-making are discussed.
AB - In everyday life, before deciding what to do, one has to think about what could be done. We investigate option generation from a developmental perspective, testing the predictions of the Take-The-First-heuristic (TTF). Moreover, we examine the influence of time limitation on decision-making processes. Using soccer as a testbed, 6- to 13-year-old children (N = 97) were tested in a video-based option-generation paradigm. Children's performance was aligned with predictions of TTF: Children generated a mean of 2.21 options, did so in a meaningful way and selected the first as final option in 74%. With shorter time, children generated fewer and higher quality options, selected better options and more often the first option as final decision. Further, with age, an increase of the number of options generated and an increase in quality of the final decisions emerged. This age effect was more pronounced with shorter time. Implications for real-life decision-making are discussed.
KW - decision making
KW - development
KW - ecological rationality
KW - heuristics
KW - option generation
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85139565979&partnerID=8YFLogxK
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85139565979
T3 - CogSci 2017 - Proceedings of the 39th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society: Computational Foundations of Cognition
SP - 823
EP - 828
BT - CogSci 2017 - Proceedings of the 39th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society
PB - The Cognitive Science Society
T2 - 39th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society: Computational Foundations of Cognition, CogSci 2017
Y2 - 26 July 2017 through 29 July 2017
ER -