Does sadness bring myopia: an intertemporal choice experiment with college students

Abstract

IntroductionWhile economics often interprets individual intertemporal choice preferences through the rationality assumption of utility maximization, the reality is that as emotional beings, individuals’ preferences for intertemporal behavior are much more diverse and inconsistent. Prior research has predominantly focused on positive or negative emotions based on prospect theory, such as anxiety, anger, disgust, and depression. However, there has been relatively little research on how sadness affects individuals’ preferences for immediate and future rewards.MethodsIn this study, 170 college students are recruited as participants, and their emotions are primed with a video before engaging in an intertemporal task. Covariance analysis and logit regression model are established to examine the main and interactive effects of sadness on individuals’ immediate reward preferences.ResultsThe findings reveal that sadness led individuals to prefer smaller immediate rewards, demonstrating a more myopic behavioral pattern, but didn’t affect time discount rate. As the reward baseline increases, sadness’s impact on immediate reward preferences is more pronounced, exacerbating individuals’ myopic behavior.DiscussionIn conclusion, these findings underscore the importance of considering emotional states in economic decision-making models and suggest avenues for future research to explore the complex dynamics of emotions and intertemporal choices.

Effects of Sadness and Fear on Moral Judgments in Public Emergency Events

“…Wright and Bower found that individuals in a sad emotional state significantly overestimate negative events and underestimate positive events [34]. Sadness has been found to make individuals more myopic and focused on immediate gains [35]. In summary, we expected that individuals increase their focus on consequences and preferences for inaction when they experience sadness in public emergency events.…”