Personality influences temporal discounting preferences: Behavioral and brain evidence
Personality traits are stable predictors of many life outcomes that are associated with important decisions that involve tradeoffs over time. Therefore, a fundamental question is how tradeoffs over time vary from person to person in relation to stable personality traits. We investigated the influenc...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
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Elsevier
2015
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/99123 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1158-5692 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9507-5368 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8634-4805 |
| _version_ | 1811081711864250368 |
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| author | Hedden, Trey Wickens, Nina Prelec, Drazen Manning, Joshua Brandon Gabrieli, Susan Gabrieli, John D. E. |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences Hedden, Trey Wickens, Nina Prelec, Drazen Manning, Joshua Brandon Gabrieli, Susan Gabrieli, John D. E. |
| author_sort | Hedden, Trey |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Personality traits are stable predictors of many life outcomes that are associated with important decisions that involve tradeoffs over time. Therefore, a fundamental question is how tradeoffs over time vary from person to person in relation to stable personality traits. We investigated the influence of personality, as measured by the Five-Factor Model, on time preferences and on neural activity engaged by intertemporal choice. During functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), participants made choices between smaller-sooner and larger-later monetary rewards. For each participant, we estimated a constant-sensitivity discount function that dissociates impatience (devaluation of future consequences) from time sensitivity (consistency with rational, exponential discounting). Overall, higher neuroticism was associated with a relatively greater preference for immediate rewards and higher conscientiousness with a relatively greater preference for delayed rewards. Specifically, higher conscientiousness correlated positively with lower short-term impatience and more exponential time preferences, whereas higher neuroticism (lower emotional stability) correlated positively with higher short-term impatience and less exponential time preferences. Cognitive-control and reward brain regions were more activated when higher conscientiousness participants selected a smaller-sooner reward and, conversely, when higher neuroticism participants selected a larger-later reward. The greater activations that occurred when choosing rewards that contradicted personality predispositions may reflect the greater recruitment of mental resources needed to override those predispositions. These findings reveal that stable personality traits fundamentally influence how rewards are chosen over time. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T11:51:16Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/99123 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T11:51:16Z |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/991232022-09-27T22:21:08Z Personality influences temporal discounting preferences: Behavioral and brain evidence Hedden, Trey Wickens, Nina Prelec, Drazen Manning, Joshua Brandon Gabrieli, Susan Gabrieli, John D. E. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Economics McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT Sloan School of Management Manning, Joshua Brandon Wickens, Nina Gabrieli, Susan Prelec, Drazen Gabrieli, John D. E. Personality traits are stable predictors of many life outcomes that are associated with important decisions that involve tradeoffs over time. Therefore, a fundamental question is how tradeoffs over time vary from person to person in relation to stable personality traits. We investigated the influence of personality, as measured by the Five-Factor Model, on time preferences and on neural activity engaged by intertemporal choice. During functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), participants made choices between smaller-sooner and larger-later monetary rewards. For each participant, we estimated a constant-sensitivity discount function that dissociates impatience (devaluation of future consequences) from time sensitivity (consistency with rational, exponential discounting). Overall, higher neuroticism was associated with a relatively greater preference for immediate rewards and higher conscientiousness with a relatively greater preference for delayed rewards. Specifically, higher conscientiousness correlated positively with lower short-term impatience and more exponential time preferences, whereas higher neuroticism (lower emotional stability) correlated positively with higher short-term impatience and less exponential time preferences. Cognitive-control and reward brain regions were more activated when higher conscientiousness participants selected a smaller-sooner reward and, conversely, when higher neuroticism participants selected a larger-later reward. The greater activations that occurred when choosing rewards that contradicted personality predispositions may reflect the greater recruitment of mental resources needed to override those predispositions. These findings reveal that stable personality traits fundamentally influence how rewards are chosen over time. National Institute on Aging (K01 AG040197) 2015-10-01T18:33:19Z 2015-10-01T18:33:19Z 2014-05 2014-04 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 10538119 1095-9572 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/99123 Manning, Joshua, Trey Hedden, Nina Wickens, Susan Whitfield-Gabrieli, Drazen Prelec, and John D.E. Gabrieli. “Personality Influences Temporal Discounting Preferences: Behavioral and Brain Evidence.” NeuroImage 98 (September 2014): 42–49. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1158-5692 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9507-5368 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8634-4805 en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2014.04.066 NeuroImage Creative Commons Attribution http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ application/pdf Elsevier PMC |
| spellingShingle | Hedden, Trey Wickens, Nina Prelec, Drazen Manning, Joshua Brandon Gabrieli, Susan Gabrieli, John D. E. Personality influences temporal discounting preferences: Behavioral and brain evidence |
| title | Personality influences temporal discounting preferences: Behavioral and brain evidence |
| title_full | Personality influences temporal discounting preferences: Behavioral and brain evidence |
| title_fullStr | Personality influences temporal discounting preferences: Behavioral and brain evidence |
| title_full_unstemmed | Personality influences temporal discounting preferences: Behavioral and brain evidence |
| title_short | Personality influences temporal discounting preferences: Behavioral and brain evidence |
| title_sort | personality influences temporal discounting preferences behavioral and brain evidence |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/99123 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1158-5692 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9507-5368 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8634-4805 |
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