Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Human Ecology-Personal Financial Planning / Maurice MacDonald / Clifford Robb / Americans seem to be financially vulnerable and lack sufficient net worth to overcome financial obstacles such as unforeseen medical issues, temporary job loss, or changing economic conditions. Americans aren’t saving enough, have too much debt, and tend to have a short-sighted view on their finances. Wealth is a primary indicator of financial and economic security and maintaining and improving standard of living are two important financial goals. Aggregate net worth can be used to gauge the financial well-being of Americans because it includes both assets and liabilities. It is hypothesized that part of the instability which results in the lack of accumulating adequate wealth, is time preference. Time preference is an important psychological construct which examines the ability to defer gratification. Time preference represents the intertemporal choice between immediate versus delayed utility. A low rate of time preference implies a low rate of intertemporal discounting. Individuals with low discounting do not heavily discount the future and are able to defer gratification. A high rate of time preference or a high rate of intertemporal discounting, suggests that individuals are more present oriented, heavily discount the future, prefer immediate gratification. This research study takes a unique approach to examining time preference since the experimental community lacks a clear consensus on how to best measure this construct. Standard risk and time preferences measures are typically achieved through responses to financially incentivized choice questions. Researchers have argued that incentivized choice questions may be common but they lack precision. Therefore, combining behaviors that involve intertemporal tradeoffs into a scale to measure time preference is believed to be a more accurate indicator of time preference. However, there is little research that has reliably developed and tested its use. This research examines time preference by comparing incentive choice questions as a proxy for time preference as well as an additive scale of intertemporal behaviors using a national representative sample. Regression analysis revealed that that time preference measured using an additive scale of intertemporal behaviors was significantly associated with net worth. The incentive choice questions as a measure of time preference were not significantly associated with net worth. The respondents with a high rate of intertemporal discounting as measured by the time preference scale accumulated less net-worth than respondents with a lower rate of intertemporal discounting. In addition, in the regression model when individual behaviors involving intertemporal tradeoffs such as smoking, drinking, and not taking physical exams were added as individual behaviors, the model was the preferred predictor of net worth.

The present study used a delay discounting procedure to characterize choice behaviors in behavioral impulsivity regarding hypothetical monetary outcomes in relation to political, religious and sexual attitudes. Participants were presented with three separate metrics to measure their political, religious and sexual attitudes and then with delay discounting choices, regarding hypothetical monetary outcomes. In the delay discounting measure, participants were presented with a hypothetical scenario, a preference for a certain monetary amount now, or $1,000 at a later specified time. The survey was administered with 26 participants; however, four of the participants’ data were removed due to errors. Results indicated there was no significant relationship between AUC values and political attitudes - r (22) = .14, r2 = .02, p > .05, p = .26. Results indicated there was no significant relationship between AUC values and religious attitudes - r (22) = .27, r2 = .07, p > .05, p = .11. A significant relationship was found between AUC and sexual attitudes - r (22) = -.39, r2 = .15, p < .05, p = .048. Furthermore, the results indicated there was a significant relationship between AUC values and the communion subscale of sexual attitudes – r (22) = -.48, r2 = .23, p < .05, p = .01. The current investigation has implications for further understanding of choice and decision-making behavior and how to predict and influence the respective choices and decisions to improve the quality of life of all individuals.

Desvalorização pelo atraso (DA) se refere à preferência por gratificações menores e disponíveis imediatamente, em detrimento de gratificações maiores, disponíveis depois de algum tempo. Altos índices de DA se associam positivamente à impulsividade e estão presentes em dependentes químicos e em outros transtornos que envolvem impulsividade. Com o objetivo de conhecer melhor a DA no contexto do tabagismo na gestação, foram elaborados quatro estudos. Os dois primeiros, Desvalorização temporal: conceitos e medidas e Desvalorização pelo atraso, dependência química e impulsividade são estudos de revisão que descrevem a DA e suas características, suposições, conseqüências, relação com as dependências químicas e formas de intervenção. O estudo Atitudes de gestantes e da população geral quanto ao uso de substâncias durante a gestação mostra como gestantes e população geral pensam o uso de álcool, de cigarros e de outras substâncias durante os períodos de gestação e de amamentação, investigados através de uma enquete com cenários hipotéticos, sendo a maioria dos participantes restritiva ao uso de álcool, de cigarros e de substâncias nos dois momentos, e os permissivos condicionaram à redução de freqüência e doses. No estudo Uso de cigarros, DA e características sociodemográficas em gestantes, gestantes fumantes foram comparadas a ex-fumantes e a não fumantes com o objetivo de identificar as características do tabagismo na gestação e a DA, através de uma tarefa computadorizada, sendo controladas variáveis sóciodemográficas, estresse, transtornos mentais e uso de substâncias. Entre as fumantes, foram controlados nível de dependência do cigarro, urgência em fumar e crenças associadas ao tabagismo. Foram identificados fatores associados ao tabagismo na gestação tais como baixa escolaridade, multiparidade e parceiro fumante, sem relação entre tabagismo na gestação e estresse ou transtornos mentais. Gestantes fumantes foram as que apresentaram maior DA na situação de ganhos, demonstrando maior impulsividade. Não houve diferenças entre os grupos na situação de perdas. Os artigos são discutidos ao final da tese. / Delay discounting (DD) refers to choosing smaller and immediately available rewards, instead of larger rewards available after some time. DD relates positively to impulsivity and is present in patients with various types of addictions and other disorders involving impulsivity. Four articles were drafted aiming the understanding of DD in the context of smoking during pregnancy. The first two articles, DD, concepts and measures and DD, drug addiction and impulsivity are review studies that describe DD and its characteristics, assumptions, consequences, relation to drug addictions and intervention. The article Attitudes of pregnant women and other adults toward the use of psychoactive substances during pregnancy draws, through a survey made of hypothetical scenarios, the ideas of pregnant women and the general population on the use of alcohol, cigarettes and other substances during pregnancy and breastfeeding. Most participants showed restrictions to the use of alcohol, cigarettes and substances on both occasions, with the more permissive ones conditioning the use to less frequency of use and smaller doses. In the study Pregnant women: cigarette use, DD and socioemographic variables, aiming to identify the characteristics of smoking in pregnancy and DD, pregnant women were compared to both former smokers and non-smokers. A computer task was devised were sociodemographic variables, stress, mental disorders and substance use were taken into account. Low education (incomplete high school), having more than one children and a partner who smokes were social demographic variables significantly related to smoking during pregnancy. Stress and TMCs were not related to smoking during pregnancy. Those who smoked showed a steeper DD curve in gains but not in losses. Articles are discussed at the end of the thesis.

abstract: People commonly make decisions and choices that could be delayed until a later time. This investigation examines two factors that may be especially important in these types of decisions: resource stability and comparison target. I propose that these two factors interact to affect whether individuals tend to adopt a delay strategy or whether they engage in more present-oriented strategy. Specifically, this thesis study tested whether picturing one’s ideal led to the adoption of a delay strategy to a greater extent when resources were stable and to a lesser extent when resources were unstable. Participants read a house-hunting scenario in which the market was stable or unstable, and either pictured their ideal house at the beginning of the task or did not. As expected, participants in the stable housing market were more willing to delay choosing a house, though the predicted interaction between resource stability and comparison target did not emerge. Contrary to the predictions, however, participants who pictured their ideal house were more willing to choose a house immediately and were more satisfied with the house they chose. Overall, these findings did not lend support to the main argument of this investigation that picturing one’s ideal would promote a delay strategy under stable resource conditions. The finding that participants preferred immediate choice after picturing their ideal may have interesting implications for persuasion and advertising. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Psychology 2015

abstract: The attractiveness of a reward depends in part on the delay to its receipt, with more distant rewards generally being valued less than more proximate ones. The rate at which people discount the value of delayed rewards has been associated with a variety of clinically and socially relevant human behaviors. Thus, the accurate measurement of delay discounting rates is crucial to the study of mechanisms underlying behaviors such as risky sex, addiction, and gambling. In delay discounting tasks, participants make choices between two alternatives: one small amount of money delivered immediately versus a large amount of money delivered after a delay. After many choices, the experimental task will converge on an indifference point: the value of the delayed reward that approximates the value of the immediate one. It has been shown that these indifference points are systematically biased by the direction in which one of the alternatives adjusts. This bias is termed a sequencing effect. The present research proposed a reference-dependent model of choice drawn from Prospect Theory to account for the presence of sequencing effects in a delay discounting task. Sensitivity to reference frames and sequencing effects were measured in two computer tasks. Bayesian and frequentist analyses indicated that the reference-dependent model of choice cannot account for sequencing effects. Thus, an alternative, perceptual account of sequencing effects that draws on a Bayesian framework of magnitude estimation is proposed and furnished with some preliminary evidence. Implications for future research in the measurement of delay discounting and sensitivity to reference frames are discussed. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Psychology 2018

abstract: Social discounting underlies individual altruistic decision-making, and it is frequently measured as the amount of hypothetical money one is willing to forgo for another person as a function of social distance. In the classic social discounting task, individual participants are asked to imagine their friends along a continuum of social distance, that is then used to estimate participant’s social discounting rate. While an ever-growing proportion of social interactions takes place over social media, no research has yet characterized social discounting in that context. Moreover, no research has estimated social discounting rate using real persons’ social distance, instead of the hypothetical continuum described above. Using existing social media indicators of social distance, it is now possible to estimate social discounting rate based on real people, which may lead to more accurate social discounting measurements and may expand the discounting model to real-life situations. Specifically, using computer algorithms to estimate the social distance from social media data makes it possible to assess the utility of numeric social distance indicators and the most appropriate ways to represent them. The proposed study examined the extent to which a hyperbolic model for social discounting fits social distance information retrieved from Facebook pages; and assessed whether there were differences in discounting rate when real or hypothetical social distance is used; also to further investigate whether discounting rates based on real persons are in fact based on perceived social distance by the participant, or on the imaginary social distance scale (i.e., an experimental artifact.) It was found that the social discounting model can be applied in the social media context, even when real Facebook friends’ profiles were used as substitutes of numeric social distance indicators. Additionally, people showed similar altruistic tendencies in both the numeric and profile social discounting tests on the Facebook environment. These findings were qualified, however, by a high rate of nonsystematic data for the profile group; a rate much higher than traditional numeric paradigm. This discrepancy suggested that the allocation rates between numeric and profile approaches need further investigation to determine the factors affecting individuals’ generosity as a function of social distance indicators. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Psychology 2018

Desvalorização pelo atraso (DA) se refere à preferência por gratificações menores e disponíveis imediatamente, em detrimento de gratificações maiores, disponíveis depois de algum tempo. Altos índices de DA se associam positivamente à impulsividade e estão presentes em dependentes químicos e em outros transtornos que envolvem impulsividade. Com o objetivo de conhecer melhor a DA no contexto do tabagismo na gestação, foram elaborados quatro estudos. Os dois primeiros, Desvalorização temporal: conceitos e medidas e Desvalorização pelo atraso, dependência química e impulsividade são estudos de revisão que descrevem a DA e suas características, suposições, conseqüências, relação com as dependências químicas e formas de intervenção. O estudo Atitudes de gestantes e da população geral quanto ao uso de substâncias durante a gestação mostra como gestantes e população geral pensam o uso de álcool, de cigarros e de outras substâncias durante os períodos de gestação e de amamentação, investigados através de uma enquete com cenários hipotéticos, sendo a maioria dos participantes restritiva ao uso de álcool, de cigarros e de substâncias nos dois momentos, e os permissivos condicionaram à redução de freqüência e doses. No estudo Uso de cigarros, DA e características sociodemográficas em gestantes, gestantes fumantes foram comparadas a ex-fumantes e a não fumantes com o objetivo de identificar as características do tabagismo na gestação e a DA, através de uma tarefa computadorizada, sendo controladas variáveis sóciodemográficas, estresse, transtornos mentais e uso de substâncias. Entre as fumantes, foram controlados nível de dependência do cigarro, urgência em fumar e crenças associadas ao tabagismo. Foram identificados fatores associados ao tabagismo na gestação tais como baixa escolaridade, multiparidade e parceiro fumante, sem relação entre tabagismo na gestação e estresse ou transtornos mentais. Gestantes fumantes foram as que apresentaram maior DA na situação de ganhos, demonstrando maior impulsividade. Não houve diferenças entre os grupos na situação de perdas. Os artigos são discutidos ao final da tese. / Delay discounting (DD) refers to choosing smaller and immediately available rewards, instead of larger rewards available after some time. DD relates positively to impulsivity and is present in patients with various types of addictions and other disorders involving impulsivity. Four articles were drafted aiming the understanding of DD in the context of smoking during pregnancy. The first two articles, DD, concepts and measures and DD, drug addiction and impulsivity are review studies that describe DD and its characteristics, assumptions, consequences, relation to drug addictions and intervention. The article Attitudes of pregnant women and other adults toward the use of psychoactive substances during pregnancy draws, through a survey made of hypothetical scenarios, the ideas of pregnant women and the general population on the use of alcohol, cigarettes and other substances during pregnancy and breastfeeding. Most participants showed restrictions to the use of alcohol, cigarettes and substances on both occasions, with the more permissive ones conditioning the use to less frequency of use and smaller doses. In the study Pregnant women: cigarette use, DD and socioemographic variables, aiming to identify the characteristics of smoking in pregnancy and DD, pregnant women were compared to both former smokers and non-smokers. A computer task was devised were sociodemographic variables, stress, mental disorders and substance use were taken into account. Low education (incomplete high school), having more than one children and a partner who smokes were social demographic variables significantly related to smoking during pregnancy. Stress and TMCs were not related to smoking during pregnancy. Those who smoked showed a steeper DD curve in gains but not in losses. Articles are discussed at the end of the thesis.

Factors impacting on the discounting process are mirrored in every aspect of human activities, be it the philosophical, the aesthetic, the religious through to the environmental and scientific experiences. In short, discounting is a controversial concept, and yet, the economic profession seems to ignore that issues related to “long-term” discounting are complex, multifaceted, and far from settled. The environmental community in particular has expressed reservations about discounting, because this process —an inherently myopic one— embodies a built-in bias against the future generations.It will be argued here that the danger to ecological sustainability is of a specific nature, namely,it relates to the lack of substitutability between human-made capital and natural capital. If this assumption is accepted, then it follows that using a discount rate is an inadequate instrumentfor achieving sustainability. Thus, it will be argued that the implementation of the precautionary principle, e.g., in form of “safe minimum standards” of ecosystem protection, provides a successful approach for achieving sustainability. / Los factores que influyen en el proceso de descuento se reflejan en todos los aspectos de la actividad humana, ya sea lo filosófico, lo estético o lo religioso a través de las experiencias ambientales y científicas. En resumen, el descuento es un concepto controvertido, y, sin embargo, la profesión económica parece ignorar que las cuestiones relacionadas al descuento de “largo plazo” son complejas, multifacéticas, y lejos de resolverse. La comunidad ambientalista, en particular, haexpresado reservas acerca del descuento, ya que este proceso —uno inherentemente miope—incorpora un sesgo implícito contra las futuras generaciones. Se argumenta que el peligro para la sostenibilidad ecológica es de carácter específico, es decir, que se refiere a la falta de posibilidad de sustitución entre el capital hecho por el hombre y el capital natural. Si se acepta esta hipótesis, entonces se deduce que el uso de una tasa de descuento es un instrumento inadecuado para el logro de la sostenibilidad. Por lo tanto, se puede argumentar que la aplicación del principio de precaución, por ejemplo, en la forma de “normas mínimas de seguridad” de protección del ecosistema, proporciona un enfoque exitoso para lograr la sostenibilidad.

A tomada de decisão quase sempre envolve a dimensão temporal e no ser humano, como nos outros animais, há um viés em favorecer o presente, fenômeno chamado de desconto do futuro. Entender em que condições e contextos os vieses cognitivos como o desconto do futuro ocorrem nos ajuda a compreender o funcionamento da cognição humana, e pode fornecer caminhos para prevenir a sua ocorrência quando são prejudiciais. Há pouco consenso sobre os antecedentes psicológicos do desconto do futuro, e o nível em que ele ocorre varia conforme a espécie, o sexo, a idade, os indivíduos, e os diferentes contextos para o mesmo indivíduo. Há poucos estudos que investigam a relação entre escolhas intertemporais e a percepção subjetiva do tempo. Para compreender o fenômeno do desconto do futuro e os mecanismos psicológicos relacionados a ele, nesse estudo investigamos a influência da percepção subjetiva de tempo. Participaram 208 pessoas, 117 mulheres e 91 homens com idades entre 18 e 71 anos, que responderam a um questionário online, anônima e voluntariamente. Foram perguntados o gênero, a idade, escolaridade, estado civil, se o participante possuía ou não filhos e em seguida o participante respondia a quatro instrumentos: (1) Cenário do Cupom, para verificar a taxa de desconto do futuro, com quatro condições experimentais que corresponderam a diferentes modos de apresentação do intervalo de tempo de três meses, (2) Aversão ao Risco, para verificar a aversão ao risco e (3) Distância da data e (4) Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory ZTPI, para verificar a percepção subjetiva de tempo. Não foi encontrada diferença significativa na taxa de desconto do futuro entre as quatro condições experimentais, contudo foi encontrada uma correlação positiva entre taxa de desconto do futuro e distância subjetiva da data em geral, juntando-se os quatro grupos e independente da apresentação. As análises indicaram que as mulheres dessa amostra apresentam maior taxa de desconto do futuro, são mais avessas ao risco, e mais propensas à orientação temporal do futuro. Os jovens, apresentaram, com relação aos mais velhos, maior taxa de desconto do futuro e maior propensão ao tempo presente. Além da distância subjetiva temporal, as variáveis gênero e idade foram as únicas que correlacionaram com diferenças na taxa de desconto do futuro. O instrumento Cenário do cupom pode não 7 ter sido adequado para acessar a taxa de desconto do futuro dos participantes quando se considera o gênero, já que outros fatores podem ter causado o maior valor pedido, e não uma maior propensão ao presente / Every moment we have to decide, and during this process cognitive biases can occur. Decision making almost always includes the temporal dimension. Human beings and other animals prefer the present, phenomenon known as future discounting. There is almost no consensus about the psychological antecedents of future discounting. Its occurrence varies with the species, the individual, the gender, the age, and different contexts for the same individual. We can understand the functioning of human mind studying the cognitive biases and the context of their occurrence, moreover we can prevent their occurrence when they are prejudicial. There are not many studies on intertemporal choice and time perception, therefore we want to contribute to the literature, adding data and reflections in this area. We explored the time perception, trough four experimental conditions, and controlling gender, age, marital status and if the participant had children or not. We had 208 participants, 117 women and 91 men, ages varying from 18 and 71, which answered to an anonymous online questionnaire, voluntarily. There were four instruments, one to verify the discounting future rate (Gift certificate Scenario ) with four experimental conditions corresponding to four different ways of presenting the three months interval , one to verify risk aversion (Risk aversion), and two to verify time perception (Distance to the date, Zimbardo time perspective inventory). There was no difference in the four experimental conditions; women had a higher future discounting rate than men, and younger participants had a higher discounting rate than older participants. Women were more risk averse than men. Younger participants had more propensity to the present than older participants. Women had more propensity to the future than men. The higher the discounting rate, higher the subjective distance of the date. There were no influence of the way the date is present, neither the participant´s marital status or if the participant had children or not. Age and gender showed an influence in time perception and future discounting

Older adults tend to use strategies that differ from those used by young adults to solve decision-making tasks. MRI experiments suggest that altered strategy use during aging can be accompanied by a change in extent of activation of a given brain region, inter-hemispheric bilateralization or added brain structures. It has been suggested that these changes reflect compensation for less effective networks to enable optimal performance. One way that communication can be influenced within and between brain networks is through oscillatory events that help structure and synchronize incoming and outgoing information. It is unknown how aging impacts local oscillatory activity within the basolateral complex of the amygdala (BLA). The present study recorded local field potentials (LFPs) and single units in old and young rats during the performance of tasks that involve discrimination learning and probabilistic decision making. Wefound task-and age-specific increases in power selectively within the beta range (15-30 Hz). The increased beta power occurred after lever presses, as old animals reached the goal location. Periods of high-power beta developed over training days in the aged rats, and was greatest in early trials of a session. beta Power was also greater after pressing for the large reward option. These data suggest that aging of BLA networks results in strengthened synchrony of beta oscillations when older animals are learning or deciding between rewards of different size. Whether this increased synchrony reflects the neural basis of a compensatory strategy change of old animals in reward-based decision-making tasks, remains to be verified.