Study 1 contributes to the sparse empirical research on decision‐making across the lifespan by presenting a direct comparison of middle‐aged children's (N = 40; fourth grade), younger adults' (N = 40; 20–39 years), and older adults' (N = 40; 62–82 years) adaptive decision‐making....

The social world is often portrayed as being less predictable and more uncertain than the nonsocial world. People may therefore feel the need to search more for information before making a choice. However, we suggest that cognitive tools such as social projection and norm‐based expectation may...