Willingness to wait covaries with endogenous variation in cortisol

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Behavioral Economics
• Psychology

Background:

• Prolonged stress impairs cognitive functions like problem-solving and behavior regulation.
• Stress-related decision-making, particularly delay discounting (devaluing future outcomes), can lead to adverse consequences.
• Limited research exists on how chronic stress influences economic choices involving delayed rewards.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between chronic stress measures and economic decision-making across different time scales.
• To determine if chronic stress influences an individual's discount factor over seconds versus days.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a multi-session design with 34 participants.
• Measured chronic stress through questionnaires, saliva, and hair samples.
• Assessed economic choices involving delayed rewards across varying time intervals.

Main Results:

• An individual's discount factor, reflecting the willingness to wait for rewards, varied significantly over seconds in response to endogenous stress.
• No significant variation in the discount factor over days was observed in response to stress.
• Stress influenced short-term delay discounting but not long-term.

Conclusions:

• Endogenous stress reliably alters economic decision-making over short timescales (seconds).
• Stress does not appear to significantly impact decisions involving longer delays (days) within this study's context.
• Findings offer insights into stress-related variations in consumer behavior and impulse purchases.