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Diminishing marginal value as delay discounting.

¹Psychology Department, SUNY, Stony Brook 11794-2500.

Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior

|May 1, 1992

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The law of diminishing marginal value in economics stems from basic psychological principles like limited consumption and delayed rewards. This framework explains addiction susceptibility and varying individual responses to rewards.

Area of Science:

Behavioral Economics
Psychological Science
Neuroscience

Background:

The fundamental economic principle of diminishing marginal value is widely accepted.
Existing explanations often focus on the intensity of reward rather than underlying psychological drivers.

Purpose of the Study:

To demonstrate that the law of diminishing marginal value can be derived from more basic psychological assumptions.
To explore the implications of these assumptions for understanding addiction and individual differences in reward processing.

Main Methods:

Theoretical analysis deriving economic principles from psychological postulates.
Examination of how limited consumption rate, delay discounting, and highest-valued alternative choice interact.

Related Experiment Videos

Main Results:

The study shows that diminishing marginal value is a logical consequence of three core psychological principles.
Intensity of reward alone is not necessary to explain diminishing marginal value; psychological factors suffice.
Variations in maximum consumption rates can explain differential addiction potential and susceptibility.

Conclusions:

Economic demand laws are rooted in fundamental psychological mechanisms.
Understanding these psychological underpinnings offers new insights into addictive behaviors and individual variability.
This framework provides a more parsimonious explanation for diminishing marginal value and related phenomena.