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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 9, 2025

Measuring Delay Discounting in Humans Using an Adjusting Amount Task

Measuring Delay Discounting in Humans Using an Adjusting Amount Task

Published on: January 9, 2016

Self-control ≠ temporal discounting.

George Loewenstein¹, Erin Carbone¹

¹Department of Social and Decision Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213, USA.

Current Opinion in Psychology

|October 24, 2024

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Self-control issues arise from conflicts between emotions and rational decisions, not just time perception. Managing emotional triggers is key to effective self-regulation.

Keywords:

Affects Precommitment Self-control Time discounting

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Last Updated: Jun 9, 2025

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Published on: August 25, 2023

Area of Science:

Decision Science
Behavioral Economics
Psychology

Background:

Traditional economic models explain self-control failures through time discounting, specifically hyperbolic discounting and present bias.
This framework posits that individuals overvalue immediate rewards, leading to suboptimal long-term choices.

Purpose of the Study:

To propose a novel framework for understanding self-control that moves beyond temporal discounting.
To investigate the role of affective states (emotions, physiological states, feeling states) in self-control conflicts.
To offer a more comprehensive model of self-regulation.

Main Methods:

Theoretical analysis critiquing the limitations of the temporal discounting model.
Review of empirical evidence examining the interplay between affect and deliberation.
Conceptual development of an affect-centric model of self-control.

Main Results:

Self-control problems are fundamentally conflicts between affective motivations and deliberative processes.
Affective states can both impede and facilitate self-control.
The temporal discounting model inadequately explains the complexity of diverse self-control failures.

Conclusions:

Effective self-regulation strategies often involve managing or avoiding affective triggers.
A comprehensive understanding of self-control requires integrating affective dynamics.
This research offers a new perspective on self-control, emphasizing the role of emotions over time preferences.