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Updated: Jun 21, 2026
07:47
Measuring Delay Discounting in Humans Using an Adjusting Amount Task
Published on: January 9, 2016
Discounting future green: money versus the environment.
David J Hardisty1, Elke U Weber
1Department of Psychology, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA. djh2117@columbia.edu
Journal of Experimental Psychology. General
|August 6, 2009
Summary
People discount financial and environmental gains more than losses. Health outcomes are discounted differently, but overall, environmental and financial decisions show similar discounting patterns, aiding policy-making.
Area of Science:
- Behavioral Economics
- Environmental Psychology
- Decision Science
Background:
- Understanding how individuals value future outcomes across different domains (financial, environmental, health) is crucial for policy and personal decision-making.
- Previous research suggests temporal discounting, where immediate rewards are preferred over delayed ones, varies across outcome types.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate and compare temporal discounting rates for financial, environmental, and health gains and losses.
- To examine whether the valence of outcomes (gains vs. losses) or the domain influences discounting more significantly.
- To assess the similarity in discounting between environmental and financial outcomes at short to medium delays.
Main Methods:
- Three studies were conducted where participants made choices between hypothetical gains and losses in financial, environmental, and health domains.
- Outcomes were presented with immediate or delayed effects (1 or 10 years).
- Implicit discount rates were calculated and compared across domains and outcome valences.
Main Results:
- Across all domains, gains were discounted more heavily than losses.
- Monetary and environmental outcomes showed similar discounting patterns; health gains were discounted more, and health losses less, than in other domains.
- Discount rates were primarily influenced by outcome valence (gain/loss) rather than domain (money, environment, health).
Conclusions:
- Temporal discounting is more sensitive to whether an outcome is a gain or a loss than to its specific domain.
- Environmental outcomes are discounted similarly to financial outcomes at short to medium delays.
- These findings offer valuable insights for researchers and policymakers, particularly regarding environmental policy and resource management.
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