TITLE:
Tempospect Theory of Intertemporal Choice
AUTHORS:
Taiki Takahashi, Ruokang Han
KEYWORDS:
Time Discounting; Psychological Time; Psychophysics; Behavioral Economics;Neuroeconomics
JOURNAL NAME:
Psychology,
Vol.3 No.8,
August
23,
2012
ABSTRACT: Anomalies in intertemporal choice (e.g. hyperbolic discounting, subadditive discounting, a sign effect, a magnitude effect, and a delay-speedup asymmetry) have been investigated in neuroeconomics and behavioral neuroeconomics. In this study we propose a “tempospect” theory of intertemporal choice which can account for these anomalies in intertemporal choice. The key features of the present theory are: 1) decision over time is made with psychological time; and 2) psychological time is determined by a change in delay until receipt (i.e., positive or negative time-interval between options); 3) psychological time is less sensitive to a decrease in delay in comparison to an increase in delay; and 4) psychological time is influenced by the sign and magnitude of the delayed outcomes. Implications of the present theory for neuroeconomics are discussed.