When is it adaptive to be patient? A general framework for evaluating delayed rewards

Fawcett, Tim W.; McNamara, John M.; Houston, Alasdair I.

doi:10.1016/j.beproc.2011.08.015

Cited by 107 publications

(102 citation statements)

References 60 publications

(11 reference statements)

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“…We present a model that predicts data as well as discounting models while remaining psychologically plausible and better accommodating discrepancies observed in our task variants. This is not the first study to challenge the standard discounting approach to explaining intertemporal choice (7,8,19,23,24). …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Postreward delays and systematic biases in measures of animal temporal discounting

Blanchard

Pearson

Hayden

2013

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

132

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Intertemporal choice tasks, which pit smaller/sooner rewards against larger/later ones, are frequently used to study time preferences and, by extension, impulsivity and self-control. When used in animals, many trials are strung together in sequence and an adjusting buffer is added after the smaller/sooner option to hold the total duration of each trial constant. Choices of the smaller/sooner option are not reward maximizing and so are taken to indicate that the animal is discounting future rewards. However, if animals fail to correctly factor in the duration of the postreward buffers, putative discounting behavior may instead reflect constrained reward maximization. Here, we report three results consistent with this discounting-free hypothesis. We find that (i) monkeys are insensitive to the association between the duration of postreward delays and their choices; (ii) they are sensitive to the length of postreward delays, although they greatly underestimate them; and (iii) increasing the salience of the postreward delay biases monkeys toward the larger/later option, reducing measured discounting rates. These results are incompatible with standard discounting-based accounts but are compatible with an alternative heuristic model. Our data suggest that measured intertemporal preferences in animals may not reflect impulsivity, or even mental discounting of future options, and that standard human and animal intertemporal choice tasks measure unrelated mental processes.delay discounting | animal models | patience | foraging | rhesus macaque A nimal decision makers in natural environments regularly face choices between smaller rewards delivered sooner and larger rewards delivered later. To study how animals make this tradeoff, psychologists often measure preferences in intertemporal choice tasks, which directly pit smaller/sooner (SS) rewards against larger/later (LL) ones (1). Animals will typically sacrifice some of the long-term rate-maximizing benefits offered by the LL option to choose SS options. These present-biased preferences are sometimes thought to reflect impulsivity and poor self-control (2-4) and are often taken as a model for human impulsivity (2-6).In nearly all animal intertemporal choice studies, many trials are strung together in sequence. When faced with a choice between an SS and an LL option, rate-maximizing behavior may sometimes dictate choosing the SS option to begin the next trial more quickly and thus increase the overall rate of reward (7). To avoid this confound, animal psychologists normally add an adjusting buffer after the SS reward to equalize trial lengths. As a result, total time for either option is matched, and the ratemaximizing strategy is to always choose the LL option. However, this buffering strategy serves its purpose only if animals correctly incorporate postreward delays into their decisions and if they correctly associate specific postreward delays with the choices that produced them. If animals fail to do either of these things, then their preferences cannot be interpreted...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Postreward delays and systematic biases in measures of animal temporal discounting

Blanchard

Pearson

Hayden

2013

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

132

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Indeed, high investment in skills and expertise only makes sense if the individual can trust that this investment will pay off in the future. In a harsh and unpredictable environment, it may be more beneficial not to invest too much, but rather to consume as many resources as possible before losing the benefits of one's work [73]. In line with this idea, people living in a harsh environment discount the future more steeply [33,53,[74][75][76][77][78].…”

Section: Investing In Embodied Capital: Delayed Gratificationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The nature and dynamics of world religions: a life-history approach

Baumard

Chevallier

2015

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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In contrast with tribal and archaic religions, world religions are characterized by a unique emphasis on extended prosociality, restricted sociosexuality, delayed gratification and the belief that these specific behaviours are sanctioned by some kind of supernatural justice. Here, we draw on recent advances in life history theory to explain this pattern of seemingly unrelated features. Life history theory examines how organisms adaptively allocate resources in the face of trade-offs between different life-goals (e.g. growth versus reproduction, exploitation versus exploration). In particular, recent studies have shown that individuals, including humans, adjust their life strategy to the environment through phenotypic plasticity: in a harsh environment, organisms tend to adopt a 'fast' strategy, pursuing smaller but more certain benefits, while in more affluent environments, organisms tend to develop a 'slow' strategy, aiming for larger but less certain benefits. Reviewing a range of recent research, we show that world religions are associated with a form of 'slow' strategy. This framework explains both the promotion of 'slow' behaviours such as altruism, self-regulation and monogamy in modern world religions, and the condemnation of 'fast' behaviours such as selfishness, conspicuous sexuality and materialism. This ecological approach also explains the diffusion pattern of world religions: why they emerged late in human history (500-300 BCE), why they are currently in decline in the most affluent societies and why they persist in some places despite this overall decline.

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“…An adaptive approach to intertemporal choice suggests that time preferences should reflect the temporal problems faced in a species's environment [1,4,5]. A species's ecology may involve specific temporal requirements, such as the need to wait to acquire food.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolutionary pressures on primate intertemporal choice

Stevens

2014

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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From finding food to choosing mates, animals must make intertemporal choices that involve fitness benefits available at different times. Species vary dramatically in their willingness to wait for delayed rewards. Why does this variation across species exist? An adaptive approach to intertemporal choice suggests that time preferences should reflect the temporal problems faced in a species's environment. Here, I use phylogenetic regression to test whether allometric factors relating to body size, relative brain size and social group size predict how long 13 primate species will wait in laboratory intertemporal choice tasks. Controlling for phylogeny, a composite allometric factor that includes body mass, absolute brain size, lifespan and home range size predicted waiting times, but relative brain size and social group size did not. These findings support the notion that selective pressures have sculpted intertemporal choices to solve adaptive problems faced by animals. Collecting these types of data across a large number of species can provide key insights into the evolution of decision making and cognition.

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When is it adaptive to be patient? A general framework for evaluating delayed rewards

Cited by 107 publications

References 60 publications

Postreward delays and systematic biases in measures of animal temporal discounting

Postreward delays and systematic biases in measures of animal temporal discounting

The nature and dynamics of world religions: a life-history approach

Evolutionary pressures on primate intertemporal choice

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