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Full-Text Articles in Psychology
Effects Of Reward Magnitude Frames On Measures Of Delay Discounting In A Hypothetical Money Scenario, Michael Harman, Tiffany Kodak, Todd Mckerchar
Effects Of Reward Magnitude Frames On Measures Of Delay Discounting In A Hypothetical Money Scenario, Michael Harman, Tiffany Kodak, Todd Mckerchar
Research, Publications & Creative Work
The current study analyzed the effects of three frames of reward magnitude – quantity, volume, and duration – on the rate at which college students discounted hypothetical, delayed monetary rewards. Hypothetical scenarios were presented using the fill-in-the-blank discounting questionnaire and participants made choices between immediate and delayed hypothetical monetary rewards. Scenarios framed the monetary choices as (a) quantity of dollar bills, (b) height (inches) of a stack of dollar bills, and (c) duration of time spent in a hypothetical cash machine to collect dollar bills. For each scenario, participants’ subjective values were used to calculate the area under the curve …
Tests Of An Indifference Rule In Variable-Delay And Double-Reward Choice Procedures With Humans, Todd Mckerchar, James E. Mazur
Tests Of An Indifference Rule In Variable-Delay And Double-Reward Choice Procedures With Humans, Todd Mckerchar, James E. Mazur
Research, Publications & Creative Work
Four-hundred and fifty participants were recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk across three experiments to test the predictions of a hyperbolic discounting equation in accounting for human choices involving variable delays or multiple rewards (Mazur, 1984, 1986). In Experiment 1, participants made hypothetical choices between two monetary alternatives, one consisting of a fixed delay and another consisting of two delays of equal probability (i.e., a variable-delay procedure). In Experiment 2, participants made hypothetical monetary choices between a single, immediate reward and two rewards, one immediate and one delayed (i.e., a double-reward procedure). Experiment 3 also used a double-reward procedure, but with …
Human Choices Between Variable And Fixed Rewards In Hypothetical Variable-Delay And Double-Reward Discounting Procedures, Todd Mckerchar, James E. Mazur
Human Choices Between Variable And Fixed Rewards In Hypothetical Variable-Delay And Double-Reward Discounting Procedures, Todd Mckerchar, James E. Mazur
Research, Publications & Creative Work
Prior research has shown that nonhumans show an extreme preference for variable- over fixed-delays to reinforcement. This well-established preference for variability occurs because a reinforcer’s strength or “value” decreases according to a curvilinear function as its delay increases. The purpose of the present experiments was to investigate whether this preference for variability occurs with human participants making hypothetical choices. In three experiments, participants recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk made choices between variable and fixed monetary rewards. In a variable-delay procedure, participants repeatedly chose between a reward delivered either immediately or after a delay (with equal probability) and a reward after …
Hyperboloid Discounting Of Delayed Outcomes: Magnitude Effects And The Gain-Loss Asymmetry, Todd Mckerchar, Stephen Pickford, Shannon R. Robertson
Hyperboloid Discounting Of Delayed Outcomes: Magnitude Effects And The Gain-Loss Asymmetry, Todd Mckerchar, Stephen Pickford, Shannon R. Robertson
Research, Publications & Creative Work
For more than 20 years, a plethora of research has been conducted on the discounting of delayed rewards. In contrast, there has been relatively little research on the discounting of delayed aversive outcomes (e.g., monetary losses). The present study examined the discounting of delayed hypothetical gains and losses by 55 college undergraduates at two monetary amounts, $1,000 and $25,000. A simple hyperbola generally provided very poor fits to the data. In contrast, a hyperboloid provided much better fits to the discounting of all outcomes, and its exponent was frequently less than unity. Although the rate of discounting was greater for …