Time Matters: Time Perspectives Predict Intertemporal Prosocial Preferences

Abstract

The study utilizes the Chinese version of the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory (ZTPI-C) and a novelty intertemporal prosocial discounting paradigm to explore the preferences of individuals with the Present Impulsive Time Perspective (PITP) and the Future Time Perspective (FTP) in intertemporal prosocial choices, and uncovers the cognitive mechanisms underpinning intertemporal altruism from the personality traits. The findings revealed: (1) The donation behaviors of both groups decreased as time delay rose, aligning with the hyperbolic model. (2) PITP individuals had significantly higher discount rates than those with FTP, and the scores of FTP individuals on the “Future” dimension of the ZTPI-C were positively correlated with the amount of money they were willing to forgo. These results suggest that time perspective, as a stable personality trait, can predict individuals’ intertemporal prosocial preferences. Our research enriches the theory of intertemporal choices and extends the Perceived-time–based model (PTBM) to the domain of intertemporal social preferences.

Can you change my generosity towards future others? The impact of observability on intertemporal pro‐social decisions

“…Therefore, we assumed that the phenomena of intertemporal pro-social discounting exist and fit a hyperbolic model. Following previous studies, we fitted the forgone amount at each time delay to the standard hyperbolic model (Lu et al, 2023;Ogawa & Ida, 2015):…”

“…We conducted an intertemporal pro-social discounting task using a recent variant of the dictator game, known as the dictator game with delayed rewards, which has been validated among Chinese subjects (Lu et al, 2023(Lu et al, , 2022. The novelty of this variant is to postpone payment in the dictator game, thereby creating a time delay between the participant's decision-making time (the experiment) and the recipient's time to accept the donation (the delayed treatment variable).…”

“…To date, the impact of intertemporal choices on social preferences has been investigated in various contexts, such as charitable donations (Breman, 2011), dictator games (Lu et al, 2022), and public goods games (Barfuss et al, 2020). These studies have conducted diverse methodologies, including laboratory experiments (Lu et al, 2023), online surveys (Capra et al, 2022), and field studies (Breman, 2011), while sampling from different populations like students (Lu et al, 2022), registered donors of charitable organizations (Lu et al, 2023), and nationally representative samples (Chopra et al, 2021).…”

“…Following Dufwenberg and Muren (2006), participants in the anonymous condition made decisions and received payments without identifying themselves, while those in the observable condition completed decision tasks and received rewards in a lecture hall filled with dozens of silently observing classmates. To illuminate the temporal nature of pro-social preferences, we utilized the dictator game with delayed rewards, a novel experimental tool introduced by Lu et al (2023). This instrument provides a direct means of investigating the impact of delays on intertemporal social discounting.…”

“…However, the existing evidence becomes puzzling from a “big picture” perspective. Several studies hypothesized that generosity decreases in a non‐constant hyperbolic fashion across time delays (e.g., Kovarik, 2009; Lu et al, 2023, 2022; Ogawa & Ida, 2015). By contrast, some studies do the exact opposite (e.g., Andreoni & Serra‐Garcia, 2021; Breman, 2011), yet others find no effect (Kölle & Lauer, 2019).…”