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Related Experiment Video

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Online Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation of Dorsomedial and Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex in Cognition Decision Making, and Cognitive Dissonance

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Preference reversals with losses.

Daniel D Holt¹, Leonard Green, Joel Myerson

¹Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri 63130, USA.

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review

|July 9, 2008

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

People often reverse their preferences for future gains as they get closer. This study shows the same preference reversal occurs with losses, supporting hyperboloid discounting models.

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Area of Science:

Behavioral Economics
Decision Science
Neuroeconomics

Background:

Intertemporal choice theory explains how individuals make decisions involving trade-offs between outcomes at different points in time.
Previous research indicates hyperbolic discounting, where people prefer smaller, sooner rewards over larger, later rewards, leading to preference reversals as outcomes approach.
Existing models struggle to explain these reversals solely based on discounting magnitude.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate whether preference reversals observed with gains also occur with losses.
To test whether hyperboloid discounting or steeper discounting of smaller amounts better explains these reversals.

Main Methods:

Participants evaluated hypothetical losses presented at different delays and magnitudes.
Preference choices were analyzed for consistency across varying time horizons.

Main Results:

A significant preference reversal was observed for losses: smaller, sooner losses were preferred over larger, later losses when outcomes were distant, but this preference reversed as losses became imminent.
No magnitude effect was found, meaning smaller losses were not discounted more steeply than larger losses.

Conclusions:

The observed preference reversals for losses strongly support the hyperboloid discounting function.
Findings challenge explanations based solely on the magnitude of discounted amounts, highlighting the role of the discounting shape in intertemporal decision-making.