The evolution of strategical thinking in adolescence and its relation with cognitive abilities

Abstract

This thesis contributes to the literature on economic experiments with adolescents and their capacity for strategic thinking by exploring its relationship with cognitive ability, age, different types of incentives, and potential differences arising from the use of diverse experimental designs. A particularly distinctive feature of this thesis is the study of the evolution of strategic thinking between ages 10 and 20, providing evidence on how individuals’ ability to anticipate others evolves over time. The studies are based on data collected between 2021 and 2024 using two types of experiments: laboratory experiments and lab-in-the-field experiments. The laboratory experiments were conducted with university students and older adolescents, while the lab-in-the-field experiments were carried out in 33 secondary schools in Spain. The tasks used to measure strategic thinking are the same across all samples, which allows for direct comparisons. These tasks are based on standard designs used with adult populations, but were adapted to be easier to understand for younger participants using more visual and interactive formats. In addition to these measures of strategic thinking, information was collected from other experimental tasks, including cognitive ability, time and risk preferences, as well as sociodemographic characteristics. Chapters 3, 4 and 5 use subsamples from the full dataset to conduct analyses of strategic thinking in adolescents.

En abierto se puede consultar la parte no embargada de la Tesis Doctoral.