ABSTRACT
The rapid shift toward a digitalized, globally connected world confronts the aging individual with drastically new contexts and decisions. This chapter sheds light on the aging decision-maker in cyberspace, which offers tremendous new opportunities but also challenging threats. To date, older adults are neglected in research on cybersecurity, while they may become a particular target for malevolent actors. This, combined with age-related change in cognitive functions and sensitivity to deception as well as socioemotional and neurobiological changes with age, may lead to poor decision-making online. We argue that the fast-changing contexts of a digitally connected world require an extensive broadening of our view on the aging individual; and opens fascinating new opportunities to study and equip older adults for successful navigation through cyberspace. This chapter presents literature on cognitive, socioemotional, and neurobiological influences on decision-making related to deception detection, toward development of a biopsychosocial model of the aging decision-maker online. We reflect on vulnerability profiling that considers multiple factors and can improve design of tailored decision-supportive solutions against victimization in aging. The chapter concludes with promising research directions that leverage a broad range of information sources and methodological approaches, including both in-lab and real-world data collection, necessary to protect older adults from cyberfraud.
