Why Older Adults Are Less Likely to See Life as a Zero-Sum Game Than Younger People

Psychologists have long been interested in how people perceive competition, fairness, and opportunity. A new study published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General adds an important insight to this conversation: our tendency to see life as a zero-sum game changes with age—and not in the way many might expect.

A zero-sum situation is one where one person’s gain automatically means another person’s loss. Some situations clearly fit this definition. In a Super Bowl matchup, only one team walks away with the trophy. In a presidential election, only one candidate wins. These are classic examples where resources, rewards, or outcomes are fixed.

The problem arises when people apply this same logic to situations that are not actually zero-sum, such as education, economic growth, workplace success, or social progress. According to this new research, younger people are significantly more likely to make this mistake than older adults.

Understanding Zero-Sum Beliefs

Zero-sum beliefs are the assumption that for someone to succeed, someone else must fail. Psychologists have found that humans are surprisingly prone to applying this mindset even in situations where cooperation or shared benefit is possible.

For example, many people believe that if one group gains economic advantages, another group must lose out. However, in many real-world scenarios—such as innovation, trade, or education—value can be created rather than merely redistributed.

The new study shows that older adults are much less likely to fall into this mental trap, while younger people are increasingly inclined toward it.

Who Conducted the Research and Why It Matters

The research was led by Veronica Vazquez-Olivieri, a doctoral researcher at the University of Chicago, along with University of Chicago professor Boaz Keysar and sociologist Tamar Kricheli-Katz from Tel Aviv University’s Faculty of Law.

The researchers were interested in how age influences decision-making and perception of social reality. While analyzing data from the World Values Survey—an international research project that has tracked cultural and social values for over four decades—Vazquez-Olivieri noticed a consistent pattern: zero-sum beliefs declined as people grew older.

This observation sparked a deeper investigation using controlled experiments to understand whether the trend was real, robust, and measurable.

The Experiments Behind the Findings

The research team conducted four separate experiments, surveying nearly 2,500 participants. These participants were divided into two main age groups: young adults aged 18 to 30, and older adults aged 65 to 80.

Participants were asked to rate their agreement with broad statements such as whether wealth creation necessarily makes others poorer. These questions were designed to capture general zero-sum thinking rather than opinions about specific political or economic issues.

Across all experiments, the results were consistent. Older participants were far less likely to endorse zero-sum beliefs, while younger participants frequently interpreted ambiguous or neutral situations as competitive and win-lose.

Testing Zero-Sum Thinking in Realistic Scenarios

The researchers didn’t stop at abstract statements. They also tested how people interpret specific, realistic situations.

In one experiment, participants were presented with a fictional company struggling with work-life balance. The company introduced bonuses and incentives for employees who received high performance ratings. Importantly, employees were not ranked against each other, meaning that theoretically everyone could earn a bonus.

From a technical standpoint, this was not a zero-sum situation. Yet younger participants were much more likely to describe it as one, assuming that rewards for some employees must come at the expense of others. Older participants, on the other hand, were more likely to recognize that multiple people could benefit at the same time.

Why Younger People See the World as More Competitive

One explanation offered by the researchers is that younger people perceive resources as scarcer. This perception may be shaped by modern realities such as competitive college admissions, tight job markets, rising housing costs, and economic uncertainty.

Living in environments where success feels limited and hard-won may reinforce the idea that gains are always offset by losses elsewhere. Over time, this mindset can become the default way people interpret social and economic systems.

Older adults, by contrast, often have decades of lived experience showing that outcomes are not always immediate or obvious. Benefits that seem unequal in the short term can turn out to be shared or even mutually reinforcing in the long run.

Immigration as a Real-World Example

The study also highlights how zero-sum thinking influences public attitudes, particularly around immigration. Immigrants are frequently portrayed as taking jobs or harming the economy. However, extensive economic research shows that this framing is largely inaccurate.

In many cases, immigration expands economic activity, creates new jobs, and increases overall productivity. Instead of shrinking the pie, immigrants often help make it larger. Seeing immigration as zero-sum reflects a psychological bias rather than economic reality.

Are Younger Generations Different Than the Past?

One of the most striking findings came from revisiting the World Values Survey data. While people generally become less zero-sum as they age, today’s younger generations are more zero-sum oriented than previous generations were at the same age.

This suggests that the trend is not purely about getting older. There may be broader cultural, economic, or social forces pushing younger people toward more competitive worldviews. The researchers acknowledge that they do not yet have a clear explanation for this shift, especially since global wealth and resources have expanded over time.

How Education and Experience Can Change Perspectives

The good news is that zero-sum thinking is not fixed. Keysar and Vazquez-Olivieri observed this firsthand while teaching a course on negotiation. Students initially approached negotiations as battles where one side must lose.

As the course progressed, students learned to identify opportunities for cooperation and mutual benefit. By the end, most performed better by expanding the range of possible gains rather than fighting over fixed outcomes.

This suggests that awareness and education can actively reduce zero-sum bias, even in younger people.

Why This Research Matters

Understanding zero-sum beliefs is crucial because these assumptions shape how people vote, negotiate, collaborate, and judge fairness. Mislabeling cooperative situations as competitive can lead to unnecessary conflict, missed opportunities, and poor decision-making.

The research also highlights the value of intergenerational perspective. Older adults may offer insights grounded in long-term thinking, patience, and accumulated experience. Simply talking with older people can help challenge assumptions about scarcity and competition.

Final Thoughts

The study offers a hopeful takeaway. Even if someone currently sees the world as win-lose, evidence suggests that this mindset softens over time. Experience, reflection, and exposure to different perspectives all play a role.

In a world that often feels increasingly divided and competitive, recognizing when situations are not truly zero-sum may be one of the simplest ways to improve understanding and cooperation.

Research paper:
https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0001859