Many teens make risky decisions. Lab experiments have shown risky behavior drops steadily as people grow from children into adults. But real-life data show a different pattern: Adolescents take more risks and are also more likely to be injured or die as a result of such behaviors.
To resolve why teens behave this way, Wouter van den Bos and Ralph Hertwig, two German psychologists, employed 105 people, all from 8 to 22 years old. All were made to spin a wheel. The wheel was divided into 10 equal-sized wedges(楔子). Some were orange, while others blue. If the wheel stopped spinning on an orange wedge, the participant won or lost money. This could be between 3 and 32 euros. But if the wheel stopped on a blue wedge, they got nothing. Meanwhile, the five-euro option, a guaranteed win, was provided.
The researchers designed trials like this: in half of the trials, the orange and blue wedges were visible around the entire wheel, and in the other trials, part of the wheel was covered and thus participants had no idea how likely they were to win. As more of the wheel was covered, the risks of spinning became more and more ambiguous.
Teens were more likely to spin the wheel, even when much of it was covered, van den Bos and Hertwig found. Children and adults, however, avoided those ambiguous situations. Instead, they chose the guaranteed reward in these trials.
“In the teenage years, there’s much to explore and to learn by exploration.” Van den Bos says. Many experiences are new, he notes, and teens don’t know how they’ll turn out. “Many of these situations aren’t dangerous and are helpful in becoming an independent adult. So in general, this seems to be a good attitude to have,” he concludes.
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