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The effects of the framing of time on delay discounting
Author(s) -
DeHart William Brady,
Odum Amy L.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of the experimental analysis of behavior
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.75
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1938-3711
pISSN - 0022-5002
DOI - 10.1002/jeab.125
Subject(s) - discounting , delay discounting , framing (construction) , time perception , psychology , framing effect , temporal discounting , social psychology , impulsivity , cognition , developmental psychology , persuasion , economics , structural engineering , finance , neuroscience , engineering
We examined the effects of the framing of time on delay discounting. Delay discounting is the process by which delayed outcomes are devalued as a function of time. Time in a titrating delay discounting task is often framed in calendar units (e.g., as 1 week, 1 month, etc.). When time is framed as a specific date, delayed outcomes are discounted less compared to the calendar format. Other forms of framing time; however, have not been explored. All participants completed a titrating calendar unit delay‐discounting task for money. Participants were also assigned to one of two delay discounting tasks: time as dates (e.g., June 1 st , 2015) or time in units of days (e.g., 5000 days), using the same delay distribution as the calendar delay‐discounting task. Time framed as dates resulted in less discounting compared to the calendar method, whereas time framed as days resulted in greater discounting compared to the calendar method. The hyperboloid model fit best compared to the hyperbola and exponential models. How time is framed may alter how participants attend to the delays as well as how the delayed outcome is valued. Altering how time is framed may serve to improve adherence to goals with delayed outcomes.