Integrated versus segregated accounting and the magnitude effect in temporal discounting |
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Authors: | Email author" target="_blank">Randolph?C?GraceEmail author Anthony?P?McLean |
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Institution: | Department of Psychology, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch, New Zealand. randolph.grace@canterbury.ac.nz |
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Abstract: | Temporal discounting rates in humans generally decrease as the amount of reward increases, a phenomenon known as themagnitude effect. In the present study, we examined whether temporal discounting and the magnitude effect are related to segregation of choices
in terms of gains or losses for waiting for or expediting receipt of a reward. Subjects (N = 24) responded to a series of
hypothetical choices about amounts of money available either immediately or after a delay. The immediate and delayed amounts
either were presented as integrated amounts in the baseline condition or were segregated as differential gains or losses for
choosing delayed or expedited consumption (delay and speedup conditions, respectively). Temporal discounting rates decreased
in the segregated conditions, in accord with the standard discounted utility model but contrary to the hypothesis that the
subjects were choosing on the basis of reward differentials in the baseline condition. The size of the magnitude effect was
comparable in the baseline and the delay conditions but decreased in the speed-up condition. These results challenge explanations
of the magnitude effect in terms of an increasing proportional sensitivity property of the utility function (Loewenstein &
Prelec, 1992) and the hypothesis that subjects choose on the basis of differentials even when the rewards are presented as
integrated amounts. |
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