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Time is on my side: optimism in intertemporal choice.

M Berndsen1, J van der Pligt

  • 1Department of Social Psychology, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands. sp_berndsen@macmail.psy.uva.nl

Acta Psychologica
|September 25, 2001
PubMed
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Optimism influences how people value future rewards and punishments. Higher optimism leads to higher discount rates for both gains and losses, affecting financial and health decisions.

Area of Science:

  • Behavioral Economics
  • Decision Science
  • Psychology

Background:

  • Time preferences, or discount rates, significantly impact decisions involving future outcomes.
  • Optimism, a cognitive bias, may systematically influence these time preferences.
  • Understanding this relationship is crucial for fields ranging from finance to public health.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the asymmetric effects of optimism on time preferences for gains versus losses.
  • To determine how optimism influences the rate at which individuals discount future monetary and health-related outcomes.

Main Methods:

  • Two studies were conducted, examining monetary outcomes (Study 1) and health outcomes (Study 2).
  • Participants' optimism levels were assessed and correlated with their stated time preferences for hypothetical gains and losses.

Related Experiment Videos

Main Results:

  • Optimism demonstrated asymmetric effects on time preferences for gains and losses.
  • Increased optimism was associated with higher discount rates, leading to a preference for immediate gains and delayed losses.
  • Low optimism reduced discount rates, indicating a greater willingness to wait for future outcomes.

Conclusions:

  • Optimism plays a significant role in shaping individual time preferences, with implications for real-world decision-making.
  • The findings suggest that interventions aimed at managing optimism could potentially influence financial and health-related choices.
  • Future research should explore the mechanisms underlying optimism's impact on intertemporal choices.