Would you eat a ghost pepper for a prize?
đˇď¸ TĂ o lao
Welcome to Risky Business, the game where we find out how far youâll go to win a mystery prize. Iâm your host, Will Baywontbay, and todayâs contestants are 21-year-old Imani, 16-year-old Johann, and 12-year-old Rachel. Our first challenge is simple. Will you eat the cookie on your podium? Two of you have sugar cookies, but one was made with painfully spicy ghost peppers. As a reminder, our players arenât influenced by seeking audience approval since Risky Business never gets televised, and thatâs risky. Now letâs see what Predicto-Bot 9000 thinks our constestants will do. Like most daily choices, this challenge involes weighing risks against rewards. But since our grand prize is a mystery, the constestants donât know half of this equation.
People are usually opposed to taking risks for uncertain rewards. However, Rachel may have an advantage. People aged 12 to 18 face a lot of unfamiliar circumstances, and one of the primary ways they learn to navigate new environments is by taking risks. This means Johann and Rachel are already primed to risk it all. But research shows that younger adolescents are less likely to shy away from uncertain rewards. This could be because the brain regions associated with decision making are still developing. Or perhaps theyâve simply experienced less failure overall, making them less afraid of negative outcomes. Whatever the answer, this doesnât mean young people take risks impulsively. In fact, one decision making study found that while 8 to 12 year olds gambled on unknown options more than older participants, they still hesitated to do so.
Well, it looks like no one here hesitated to bite their cookie, and Johannâs bit back. Hopefully our mystery prize will be a lifetime supply of milk. Speaking of prizes, youâll have a chance to win one in our next challenge. This swimming pool is full of honey, and youâll have to swim through it to grab your $100 prize box. While you deliberate, letâs see what the PB-9000 has to say. People are generally attracted to new experiences, and itâs highly unlikely that our constestants have ever gone swimming in honey. Some research even suggests new experiences can trigger brain activity similar to getting a reward, regardless of how pleasant that experience is. That said, I think Imani has a few disadvantages. We already know adolescents frequently take risks to learn about the world. Well, that same drive makes them especially attracted to new experiences.
And at 16 years old, Johann is in peak reward sensitivity range, meaning heâs likely to over value the prize. Conversely, Imaniâs longer life experience, means sheâs able to build a robust internal model to simulate her choicesâ potential outcomes. Generally, this helps adults make complex decisions with long-term consequences. But more experience can also lead to more worries, and some studies have found people suggling with anxiety tend to give extra weight to potential negative outcomes, even if theyâre unlikely. Thanks PB. As predicted, while Johan and Rachel took the plunge, this situation was too sticky for our oldest competitor. That takes us to our final challenge. To see the big prize, our contestants will have to cross this balance beam without falling into the pit of poison ivy. And to make things even spicier, weâve brough their schoolmates to watch. What do you think will happen, PB?
Younger people often discount the long-term consequences of their choices, so Rachel might not be as worried about the poision ivy. But Johann is driven by an even stronger influence. During adolescence, our desire for group acceptance is at an all-time high, and this can lead people to take surprising risks to secure the respect of their peers. This is especially true from ages 14 to 16, when the brain regions responsible for emotional control are more developed than those handling cognitive controll. Whatâs more, this cognitive controll is weaker when adolescents know their peers are watching. So with his friends standing by, Johann is very likely to risk it all. Well, Iâm excited to see. Oh, uh. Iâm being told thereâs a bear in the honey pool. Weâll be right back.