Inconsistency in consumer time preferences has been well-established and used to explain seemingly short-sighted behaviors (e.g., failures of self-control). However, prior research has conflated time-inconsistent preferences (discount rates that vary over time) with present bias (greater...

How does the anticipated connectedness between one’s current and future identity help explain impatience in intertemporal preferences? The less consumers are closely connected psychologically to their future selves, the less willing they will be to forgo immediate benefits in order to ensure...

Consumers' intertemporal preferences have been studied across multiple theoretical and applied areas. This article outlines research showing that the context in which intertemporal preferences are expressed matters, as well as research exploring the mechanisms that account for these effects....

Intertemporal choices represent one of the most common and fundamental trade-offs in consumer decision-making. How do intertemporal choices made for another person differ from similar choices made for oneself? To examine this question, the present research introduces the first integrative...

Intertemporal tradeoffs, the conflict between current and future costs and benefits, lie at the core of health decisions. An extensive literature on time discounting has documented the widespread tendency to place a lower value on distant outcomes and to favor benefits in the moment. These...

The focus in this chapter is on the psychological foundation of intertemporal decisions and the consequences for people’s decisions and behaviors. Rather than simply update the numerous excellent past reviews with a focus on the discounting phenomena, the emphasis in this chapter is on recent...

Reducing spending in the present requires the combination of being both motivated to provide for one’s future self (valuing the future) and actively considering long-term implications of one’s choices (awareness of the future). Feeling more connected to the future self — thinking that the...