[link] Prepared to wait? New research challenges the idea that we favour small rewards now over bigger later

Kaj_Sotala

http://bps-research-digest.blogspot.com/2012/07/prepared-to-wait-new-research.html

The old idea that we make decisions like rational agents has given way over the last few decades to a more realistic, psychologically informed picture that recognises the biases and mental short-cuts that sway our thinking. Supposedly one of these is hyperbolic discounting - our tendency to place disproportionate value on immediate rewards, whilst progressively undervaluing distant rewards the further in the future they stand. But not so fast, say Daniel Read at Warwick Business School and his colleagues with a new paper that fails to find any evidence for the phenomenon.

http://bps-research-digest.blogspot.com/2012/07/prepared-to-wait-new-research.html

The old idea that we make decisions like rational agents has given way over the last few decades to a more realistic, psychologically informed picture that recognises the biases and mental short-cuts that sway our thinking. Supposedly one of these is hyperbolic discounting - our tendency to place disproportionate value on immediate rewards, whilst progressively undervaluing distant rewards the further in the future they stand. But not so fast, say Daniel Read at Warwick Business School and his colleagues with a new paper that fails to find any evidence for the phenomenon.

The opening paragraph is a poor choice, it gives no more information than the title. Here's a suggested summary:

Two studies by Daniel Read at Warwick Business School found no evidence of hyperbolic discounting. Both studies offered participants a choice of two rewards some weeks later with the greater reward one week later than the lesser, then offered the choice of the same rewards at the same time points after a few weeks. For greater realism, subjects in first study (Nstudent = 128) believed they had a chance of getting the reward, and subjects in the second study (N = 201) believed they had either a chance or a certainty of getting it. In both studies, patience was equally likely to increase or decrease over time, whereas hyperbolic discounting predicts a decrease.

Why not quote the abstract of the original paper? It is, after all, the authors' best attempt at accurately summarizing their results and hooking the reader:

Hyperbolic discounting of delayed rewards has been proposed as an underlying cause of the failure to stick to plans to forego one's immediate desires, such as the plan to diet, wake up early, or quit taking heroin. We conducted two tests of inconsistent planning in which respondents made at least two choices between a smaller–sooner (SS) and larger–later (LL) amount of money, one several weeks before

... (read more)

11

[link] Prepared to wait? New research challenges the idea that we favour small rewards now over bigger later

11

11

11

[link] Prepared to wait? New research challenges the idea that we favour small rewards now over bigger later

11

11