Delay discounting of different commodities II: confirmatory analyses

Delay discounting occurs when individuals are increasingly willing to accept less than the full amount of something to receive it immediately as the delay to the full amount increases. Previous research has reported different "domains" of commodities, with discounting in one domain not being informative about discounting in another. In the present study, 283 participants completed a delay-discounting task with 1 of 2 sets of 5 commodities identical to those used in previous research (Weatherly, Terrell, & Derenne, 2010). Confirmatory factor analyses determined that the observed discounting conformed to previously reported domains. Also replicated was finding that discounting differs both as a function of commodity and how the commodity is framed. These results provide strong support for the idea that temporal decisions made about certain consequences may not necessarily be informative about how an individual will make decisions about other consequences. Also, the framing of the decision can significantly influence observed levels of discounting, potentially clouding interpretation.