No Effects of Psychosocial Stress on Intertemporal Choice
Intertemporal choices - involving decisions which trade off instant and delayed outcomes - are often made under stress. It remains unknown, however, whether and how stress affects intertemporal choice. We subjected 142 healthy male subjects to a laboratory stress or control protocol, and asked them...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
| Published: |
Public Library of Science
2014
|
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/83525 |
| _version_ | 1826212587638882304 |
|---|---|
| author | Haushofer, Johannes Cornelisse, Sandra Seinstra, Maayke Fehr, Ernst Joels, Marian Kalenscher, Tobias |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Economics |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Economics Haushofer, Johannes Cornelisse, Sandra Seinstra, Maayke Fehr, Ernst Joels, Marian Kalenscher, Tobias |
| author_sort | Haushofer, Johannes |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Intertemporal choices - involving decisions which trade off instant and delayed outcomes - are often made under stress. It remains unknown, however, whether and how stress affects intertemporal choice. We subjected 142 healthy male subjects to a laboratory stress or control protocol, and asked them to make a series of intertemporal choices either directly after stress, or 20 minutes later (resulting in four experimental groups). Based on theory and evidence from behavioral economics and cellular neuroscience, we predicted a bidirectional effect of stress on intertemporal choice, with increases in impatience or present bias immediately after stress, but decreases in present bias or impatience when subjects are tested 20 minutes later. However, our results show no effects of stress on intertemporal choice at either time point, and individual differences in stress reactivity (changes in stress hormone levels over time) are not related to individual differences in intertemporal choice. Together, we did not find support for the hypothesis that psychosocial laboratory stressors affect intertemporal choice. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T15:26:36Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/83525 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T15:26:36Z |
| publishDate | 2014 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/835252022-10-02T02:42:14Z No Effects of Psychosocial Stress on Intertemporal Choice Haushofer, Johannes Cornelisse, Sandra Seinstra, Maayke Fehr, Ernst Joels, Marian Kalenscher, Tobias Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Economics Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) Haushofer, Johannes Intertemporal choices - involving decisions which trade off instant and delayed outcomes - are often made under stress. It remains unknown, however, whether and how stress affects intertemporal choice. We subjected 142 healthy male subjects to a laboratory stress or control protocol, and asked them to make a series of intertemporal choices either directly after stress, or 20 minutes later (resulting in four experimental groups). Based on theory and evidence from behavioral economics and cellular neuroscience, we predicted a bidirectional effect of stress on intertemporal choice, with increases in impatience or present bias immediately after stress, but decreases in present bias or impatience when subjects are tested 20 minutes later. However, our results show no effects of stress on intertemporal choice at either time point, and individual differences in stress reactivity (changes in stress hormone levels over time) are not related to individual differences in intertemporal choice. Together, we did not find support for the hypothesis that psychosocial laboratory stressors affect intertemporal choice. National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (1R01AG039297) 2014-01-06T20:27:52Z 2014-01-06T20:27:52Z 2013-11 2013-03 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 1932-6203 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/83525 Haushofer, Johannes, Sandra Cornelisse, Maayke Seinstra, Ernst Fehr, Marian Joels, and Tobias Kalenscher. “No Effects of Psychosocial Stress on Intertemporal Choice.” Edited by Mathias Pessiglione. PLoS ONE 8, no. 11 (November 8, 2013): e78597. en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0078597 PLoS ONE http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/ application/pdf Public Library of Science PLoS |
| spellingShingle | Haushofer, Johannes Cornelisse, Sandra Seinstra, Maayke Fehr, Ernst Joels, Marian Kalenscher, Tobias No Effects of Psychosocial Stress on Intertemporal Choice |
| title | No Effects of Psychosocial Stress on Intertemporal Choice |
| title_full | No Effects of Psychosocial Stress on Intertemporal Choice |
| title_fullStr | No Effects of Psychosocial Stress on Intertemporal Choice |
| title_full_unstemmed | No Effects of Psychosocial Stress on Intertemporal Choice |
| title_short | No Effects of Psychosocial Stress on Intertemporal Choice |
| title_sort | no effects of psychosocial stress on intertemporal choice |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/83525 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT haushoferjohannes noeffectsofpsychosocialstressonintertemporalchoice AT cornelissesandra noeffectsofpsychosocialstressonintertemporalchoice AT seinstramaayke noeffectsofpsychosocialstressonintertemporalchoice AT fehrernst noeffectsofpsychosocialstressonintertemporalchoice AT joelsmarian noeffectsofpsychosocialstressonintertemporalchoice AT kalenschertobias noeffectsofpsychosocialstressonintertemporalchoice |