Psychological Connectedness and Intertemporal Choice

• Published in: Journal of experimental psychology. General 2010-02, Vol.139 (1), p.49-69
• Main Authors: Bartels, Daniel M, Rips, Lance J
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Attitudes; Biological and medical sciences; Change; Choice Behavior; Cognition. Intelligence; Concept Formation - physiology; Cost Effectiveness; Costs; Decision Making; Decision Making - physiology; Decision making. Choice; Experience; Experimental psychology; Experiments; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Human; Humans; Identification; Male; Models, Psychological; Motivation - physiology; Preferences; Psychological aspects; Psychological Testing; Psychological Theory; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Self Concept; Surveys and Questionnaires; Theory Practice Relationship; Time Factors; Time Perspective; Value Judgment
• ISSN: 0096-3445; 1939-2222
• DOI: 10.1037/a0018062

People tend to attach less value to a good if they know a delay will occur before they obtain it. For example, people value receiving $100 tomorrow more than receiving $100 in 10 years. We explored one reason for this tendency (due to Parfit, 1984 ): In terms of psychological properties, such as beliefs, values, and goals, the decision maker is more closely linked to the person (his or her future self) receiving $100 tomorrow than to the person receiving $100 in 10 years. For this reason, he or she prefers his or her nearer self to have the $100 rather than his or her more remote self. Studies 1 and 2 showed that the greater the rated psychological connection between 2 parts of a participant's life, the less he or she discounted future monetary and nonmonetary benefits (e.g., good days at work) over that interval. In Studies 3-5, participants read about characters who undergo large life-changing (and connectedness-weakening) events at different points in their lives and then made decisions about the timing of benefits on behalf of these characters. All 5 studies revealed a relation between perceived psychological connectedness and intertemporal choice: Participants preferred benefits to occur before large changes in connectedness but preferred costs to occur after these changes.