Old and Young Make Impulsive Decisions.

• Position: Brief Article

It might not shock you to learn that a group of 12-year-olds would rather take a significantly lower payout today than wait to reap a much larger reward. It might surprise you, though, to learn that the oldest population surveyed by researchers at Washington University in St. Louis (Mo.)--a group of 70-year-olds--was consistently more willing to delay rewards in hopes of reaping a greater payout, even if it wouldn't occur for a decade or two.

"Everyone knows that children are more impulsive than adults, and our study found that to be fairly true as people move from about age 12 into their 20s and into their 30s," indicates Joel Myerson, research professor of psychology. "What is surprising is that people in their 70s seem just as likely as the thirtysomething group to make risky and speculative decisions in the hopes of earning a bigger future payoff, even when the potential return would not materialize for another 10 or 20 years."

Myerson and professor of psychology Leonard Green asked individuals whether they would be willing to pass up a relatively small and immediate gain for a chance at a much larger future windfall. They found significant differences among 12-year-olds and adults in their 20s and 30s, but relatively little difference between the 30- and 70-year-old groups.

"Common sense would tell you that there's a greater possibility that a 70-year-old might not be around to benefit from a potentially bigger payoff a couple of decades down the road," says Myerson. "But our study shows that he or she is no less likely than a 30-year-old to gamble on the bigger payoff." The researchers credit this result to the fact that personality traits become...