Side Effects in Time Discounting Procedures: Fixed Alternatives Become the Reference Point

Przemysław Sawicki and Michał Białek

PLOS ONE, 2016, vol. 11, issue 10, 1-11

Abstract: Typical research on intertemporal choice utilizes a two-alternative forced choice (2AFC) paradigm requiring participants to choose between a smaller sooner and larger later payoff. In the adjusting-amount procedure (AAP) one of the alternatives is fixed and the other is adjusted according to particular choices made by the participant. Such a method makes the alternatives unequal in status and is speculated to make the fixed alternative a reference point for choices, thereby affecting the decision made. The current study shows that fixing different alternatives in the AAP influences discount rates in intertemporal choices. Specifically, individuals’ (N = 283) choices were affected to just the same extent by merely fixing an alternative as when choices were preceded by scenarios explicitly imposing reference points.

Date: 2016
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:plo:pone00:0165245

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0165245

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