Can't wait or won't wait? The two barriers to patient decisions

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Behavioral Economics

Background:

• Impatience is a common human experience.
• Understanding the root causes of impatience is crucial for developing effective interventions.
• Previous research has not clearly distinguished between different barriers to patience.

Purpose of the Study:

• To differentiate the barriers underlying impatience.
• To inform targeted interventions for increasing patience.

Main Methods:

• The study conceptually distinguishes between two primary barriers to patience: perceived difficulty of waiting and perceived lack of value in waiting.
• It proposes that different interventions are required depending on which barrier is dominant.

Main Results:

• When waiting is perceived as too hard, making the waiting experience easier increases patience.
• When waiting is perceived as not valuable enough, increasing the perceived value of waiting increases patience.

Conclusions:

• Impatience arises from distinct psychological barriers.
• Tailoring interventions to address the specific barrier (difficulty vs. value) is key to effectively increasing patience.