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Asymmetric discounting in intertemporal choice: a query-theory account
E U Weber1, E J Johnson, K F Milch
1Columbia University, NY 10027, USA. euw2@columbia.edu
Psychological Science
|June 20, 2007
Summary
People exhibit greater impatience when delaying consumption versus accelerating it. This study reveals how memory query order influences decision-making, offering insights into reducing impulsive choices.
Area of Science:
- Behavioral Economics
- Cognitive Psychology
- Decision Science
Background:
- Individuals often exhibit impatience, discounting future rewards more heavily when faced with delayed consumption compared to accelerated consumption.
- This temporal discounting asymmetry has significant implications for consumer behavior and financial decision-making.
Purpose of the Study:
- To provide a process-level explanation for the observed asymmetry in temporal discounting between delayed and accelerated consumption.
- To investigate the role of memory retrieval order in shaping discounting behavior and impulsivity.
- To offer insights for designing environments that foster more patient decision-making.
Main Methods:
- Three experiments were conducted, employing thought-listing procedures and an implicit-memory task.
- Participants' memory retrieval processes and the order of querying reasons for immediate versus delayed consumption were analyzed.
- The causal role of query order on discounting asymmetry was examined by manipulating the order of reason listing.
Main Results:
- A thought-listing procedure revealed that individuals decompose value assessment into sequential memory queries, with the order influenced by whether consumption is delayed or accelerated.
- The relative frequency and clustering of impatient thoughts, driven by query order, predicted discounting behavior and mediated the asymmetry.
- Experiment 2 causally demonstrated that manipulating the order of listing reasons for consumption eliminated the discounting asymmetry, while the natural order replicated it.
- Experiment 3's implicit-memory task results supported a memory-interference account for the observed query order effects.
Conclusions:
- The asymmetry in temporal discounting between delayed and accelerated consumption is significantly influenced by the order in which memory is queried.
- Understanding and manipulating memory retrieval processes, specifically query order, can be leveraged to mitigate impulsive decision-making.
- These findings have practical implications for designing choice architectures that promote greater patience and long-term financial well-being.
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