In economics and psychology, delay discounting is often used to characterize how individuals choose between a smaller immediate reward and a larger delayed reward. People with higher delay discounting rate (DDR) often choose smaller but more immediate rewards (a "today person"). In contrast, people with a lower discounting rate often choose a larger future rewards (a "tomorrow person"). Since the ability to modulate the desire of immediate gratification for long term rewards plays an important role in our decision-making, the lower discounting rate often predicts better social, academic and health outcomes. In contrast, the higher discounting rate is often associated with problematic behaviors such as alcohol drug abuse, pathological gambling and credit card default. Thus, research on understanding and moderating delay discounting has the potential to produce substantial societ al benefits.
There is a rich body of research in economics and behavior science that investigates the relationship between DDR and real-world human behaviors such as drug abuse @cite_26 , an obese @cite_18 , pathological gambling @cite_7 , drinking @cite_19 , smoking @cite_14 , addiction to the internet @cite_27 and credit card default @cite_24 . Such a study often involves a small number of participants (e.g. a few dozens or a few hundreds). Experiment data are often obtained using questionnaires, surveys or interviews. Statistical analysis such as correlation or regression analysis are often employed to study the relationship between different test variables (e.g., DDR and smoking habits).
@cite_18 @cite_14 @cite_26 @cite_7 @cite_24 @cite_19 @cite_27
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Abstract Delay discounting (DD) is a measure of the degree to which an individual is driven by immediate gratification vs. the prospect of larger, but delayed, rewards. Because of hypothesized parallels between drug addiction and obesity, and reports of increased delay discounting in drug-dependent individuals, we hypothesized that obese individuals would show higher rates of discounting than controls. Obese and healthy-weight age-matched participants of both sexes completed two versions of a DD of money task, allowing us to calculate how subjective value of @math 50,000 declined as delay until hypothetical delivery increased from 2 weeks to 10 years. On both tasks, obese women (N = 29) showed greater delay discounting than control women did (N = 26; P values Rationale: Impulsivity is implicated in drug dependence. Recent studies show problems with alcohol and opioid dependence are associated with rapid discounting of the value of delayed outcomes. Furthermore, discounting may be particularly steep for the drug of dependence. Objectives: We determined if these findings could be extended to the behavior of cigarette smokers. In particular, we compared the discounting of hypothetical monetary outcomes by current, never, and ex-smokers of cigarettes. We also examined discounting of delayed hypothetical cigarettes by current smokers. Methods: Current cigarette smokers (n=23), never-smokers (n=22) and ex-smokers (n=21) indicated preference for immediate versus delayed money in a titration procedure that determined indifference points at various delays. The titration procedure was repeated with cigarettes for smokers. The degree to which the delayed outcomes were discounted was estimated with two non-linear decay models: an exponential model and a hyperbolic model. Results: Current smokers discounted the value of delayed money more than did the comparison groups. Never- and ex-smokers did not differ in their discounting of money. For current smokers, delayed cigarettes lost subjective value more rapidly than delayed money. The hyperbolic equation provided better fits to the data than did the exponential equation for 74 out of 89 comparisons. Conclusions: Cigarette smoking, like other forms of drug dependence, is characterized by rapid loss of subjective value for delayed outcomes, particularly for the drug of dependence. Never- and ex-smokers could discount similarly because cigarette smoking is associated with a reversible increase in discounting or due to selection bias. Behavioral economics examines conditions that influence the consumption of commodities and provides several concepts that may be instrumental in understanding drug dependence. One such concept of significance is that of how delayed reinforcers are discounted by drug dependent individuals. Discounting of delayed reinforcers refers to the observation that the value of a delayed reinforcer is discounted (reduced in value or considered to be worth less) compared to the value of an immediate reinforcer. This paper examines how delay discounting may provide an explanation of both impulsivity and loss of control exhibited by the drug dependent. In so doing, the paper reviews economic models of delay discounting, the empirical literature on the discounting of delayed reinforcers by the drug dependent and the scientific literature on personality assessments of impulsivity among drug-dependent individuals. Finally, future directions for the study of discounting are discussed, including the study of loss of control and loss aversion among drug-dependent individuals, the relationship of discounting to both the behavioral economic measure of elasticity as well as to outcomes observed in clinical settings, and the relationship between impulsivity and psychological disorders other than drug dependence. Research and clinical expertise indicates that impulsivity is an underlying feature of pathological gambling. This study examined the extent to which impulsive behavior, defined by the rate of discounting delayed monetary rewards, varies with pathological gambling severity, assessed by the South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS). Sixty-two pathological gamblers completed a delay discounting task, the SOGS, the Eysenck impulsivity scale, the Addiction Severity Index (ASI), and questions about gambling and substance use at intake to outpatient treatment for pathological gambling. In the delay discounting task, participants chose between a large delayed reward (US @math 1-$999) across a range of delays (6h to 25 years). The rate at which the delayed reward was discounted (k value) was derived for each participant and linear regression was used to identify the variables that predicted k values. Age, gender, years of education, substance abuse treatment history, and cigarette smoking history failed to significantly predict k values. Scores on the Eysenck impulsivity scale and the SOGS both accounted for a significant proportion of the variance in k values. The predictive value of the SOGS was 1.4 times that of the Eysenck scale. These results indicate that of the measures tested, gambling severity was the best single predictor of impulsive behavior in a delay discounting task in this sample of pathological gamblers. Laboratory and field studies of time preference find that discount rates are much greater in the short run than in the long run. Hyperbolic discount functions capture this property. This paper presents simulations of the savings and asset allocation choices of households with hyperbolic preferences. The behavior of the hyperbolic households is compared to the behavior of exponential households. The hyperbolic households borrow much more frequently in the revolving credit market. The hyperbolic households exhibit greater consumption income comovement and experience a greater drop in consumption around retirement. The hyperbolic simulations match observed consumption and balance sheet data much better than the exponential simulations. Aims To investigate whether adolescent heavy drinkers exhibit biased cognitive processing of alcohol-related cues and impulsive decision making. Design A between-subjects design was employed. Setting Classrooms in a single sixth-form college in Merseyside, UK. Participants Ninety adolescent students (mean age 16.83 years), of whom 38 were identified as heavy drinkers and 36 were identified as light drinkers, based on a tertile split of their weekly alcohol consumption. Measurements Participants provided information about alcohol consumption before completing measures of alcohol craving, delay discounting and an ‘alcohol Stroop’ in which they were required to name the colour in which alcohol-related and matched control words were printed. Findings Compared to light drinkers, heavy drinkers showed more pronounced discounting of delayed hypothetical monetary and alcohol rewards, which is indicative of a more short-term focus in decision making in heavy drinkers. Heavy drinkers were also slower to colour-name alcohol-related words, which indicates an attentional bias for alcohol-related cues. In all participants, measures of delay discounting and attentional bias were correlated moderately with each other, and also with the level of alcohol consumption and with alcohol craving. Conclusions In adolescents, heavy alcohol use is associated with biased attentional processing of alcohol-related cues and a shorter-term focus in decision making. To examine the relation between Internet addiction and delay discounting, we gave 276 college students a survey designed to measure Internet addiction and a paper-based delay-discounting task. In edour larger sample, we identified 14 students who met the criteria for Internet addiction; we also identified 14 matched controls who were similar to the Internet-addicted students in terms of gender, age, and grade point average. We then compared the extent to which these groups discounted delayed rewards. We found that Internet addicts discounted delayed rewards faster than non-Internet addicts. These results suggest that Internet addicts may be more impulsive than non-Internet addicts and that Internet addiction may share behavioral characteristics with other types of addiction.