FUZZY-TRACE THEORY AND FRAMING EFFECTS IN CHILDRENS RISKY DECISION-MAKING

Traditional theories of cognitive development predict that children pr ogress from intuitive to computational thinking, whereas fuzzy-trace t heory makes the opposite prediction. To evaluate these alternatives, f raming problems were administered to preschoolers, second graders, and fifth graders. Consistent with fuzzy-trace theory, results indicated (a) that younger children focused on quantitative differences between outcomes and did not exhibit framing effects (risk avoidance for gains , risk seeking for losses) and (b) that older children assimilated the se quantitative differences and displayed framing effects.