AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF CHAD A. PONCINIE. For the Master of Science degree in Behavior Analysis and Therapy, presented on 21 June 2013. TITLE: AN EXAMINATION OF DELAY DISCOUNTING IN SEX OFFENDERS WITH DUAL DIAGNOSES MAJOR PROFESSOR: Dr. Mark R. Dixon Discounting of delayed rewards by sex offenders with dual diagnoses was compared to discounting of delayed rewards by matched control non-offenders with dual diagnoses. All participants completed a hypothetical choice task in which they made repeated choices between 10 dollars/servings after a delay and an equal or lesser amount available immediately. The delay to the large reward was varied from 1 day to 2 years across conditions. Indifference points between immediate and delayed rewards were identified at each delay condition by varying the amount of immediate money across choice trials. Overall, those identified as sex offenders discounted the delayed reward more steeply than did the control non-offenders.

The present study used a delay discounting task and the Valued Living Questionnaire to examine the relationship between delay discounting and self-reported values. Thirty-eight participants completed the study. Participants were asked to make choices between immediate and delayed monetary rewards to determine rates of discounting. An exponential function (R2=0.97) provided a strong fit for discounting scores. On the Valued Living Questionnaire, participants rated on a Likert-type scale of 1-10 both the importance and their action in the previous week toward the following values: Family, marriage, parenting, friends, work, education, recreation, spirituality, community, and physical well-being. A composite valued living scored was calculated and compared to participant discounting rates; results suggest that there was a significant relationship between participant valued living scores and K-values (p<0.01) and participant valued living scores and AUC (p<0.02). The results of this study, while preliminary, are important for beginning to understand how values impact decision making.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of whether pounds are being lost or gained on the rate at which people discount the value of weight change outcomes, as well as determine the effects of whether pounds are being lost or gained and diet length on the value of access to higher calorie foods relative to weight change outcomes. This was accomplished by repeatedly asking participants to choose between two dietary options of the same length but which resulted in gaining or losing a certain number of pounds. Each question varied the length of the diet, how many pounds could be gained or lost, and whether those pounds were being gained when they chose the higher calorie diet or lost when they chose the lower calorie diet. The survey was administered with 30 participants. Whether pounds per being gained or lost did not have a significant effect on the rate at which weight change outcomes were discounted (t = 1.883, p = .07), but did have a significant effect on how many pounds needed to be at stake per day in order for the participant to choose the lower calorie diet (t = 4.995, p < .01). There was also a significant correlation between diet length and how many pounds needed to be at stake per day in order for the participant to choose the lower calorie diet (ρ = -.373, p <.01). The current investigation has implications for our understanding of choice and discounting behavior, and has specific implications for people who wish to make healthier dietary decisions.

The study examined how individuals make decisions on hypothetical sexual partners and hypothetical monetary rewards in delay and probability discounting. The participants (N-75, males=42 (M=34) and females=33(M=39)) completed an electronic survey via Qualtrics. The survey consisted of 6 tasks: 1. Multiple Stimulus without Replacement Preference Assessment that consisted of pictures of potential sex partners based on the individual’s gender preference (male, female, or both); 2. Sexual Risk Survey; 3. Monetary delay discounting task; 4. Monetary probability discounting task; 5. Delay discounting of hypothetical sexual partners; and 6. Probability discounting of hypothetical sexual partners. An analysis of area under the curve (AUC) were done for the discounting tasks. The results showed that males devalued delayed sexual partner choice rank higher rates than females (t (7.97) = 2.85, p<0.05). This was also observed in females with higher scores of the Sexual Risk Survey than the lower scorers (t (10.95) = 2.35, p<0.05). AUC reflected on the scores of the SRS and with measures of sexual risk behaviours. However, there were no significant difference in discounting monetary rewards between the genders (t (11.96) = 0.1623, p>0.05).

The purpose of the current study is to measure whether delay discounting and impulsivity will differentiate between smokers and non-smokers. It is important to extend upon previous research to understand the effects of antecedent control of delay discounting and impulsivity. Research on this subject is important in developing effective interventions for impulsive behavior like smoking cigarettes. Two surveys were provided to participants: The Monetary Choice Questionnaire (MCQ-27) and the Barratt Impulsivity Scale (BIS-11). An unpaired t test was used to interpret results. Neither the MCQ-11 nor the BIS-11 had a significant difference. Further analysis was conducted comparing age differences using unpaired and paired t tests. There was significant data to support that self-ratings of impulsive behavior differed with age comparisons in the BIS-11. Smokers (ages 26-28) were more impulsive than non-smokers (ages 22-28), and smokers (ages 20-29) showed no statistical significance when compared to smokers (ages 52-68). The MCQ-27 did not show a significant difference in overt impulsive behavior.

TITLE: DELAY DISCOUNTING AND CAMPUS SPEEDING BEHAVIORMAJOR PROFESSOR: Dr. Ryan Redner Speeding, as defined by exceeding the speed limit posted in a designated area, is a problem that has a direct negative effect on a majority of America, college campuses not being exempt. A minimal amount of research has been conducted on specifically dangerous driving such as speeding on university campuses; this paper looks to expand upon the existing research. In addition, this study serves the purpose of attempting to correlate speeding and impulsivity. This was achieved by utilizing a survey in conjunction with delay discounting scenarios embedded within. Participants (n = 89) took a survey that involved questions about demographic information and past driving. The survey also included two hypothetical scenarios that encouraged participants to answer whether they would speed in the presented scenarios and at what point. To complete the survey the MCQ (Monetary Choice Questionnaire) was placed at the end. To assess the results the 89 participants were split into two groups two different times to be analyzed. One group was split into an impulsive group and non-impulsive group while the other group was split into speeders and non-speeders. As expected, both the impulsive and speeders were more likely to discount speed at a faster rate; this shown at higher rates in the penalty hypothetical scenario. The implications of this study include that those with that display higher impulsivity, shown through k-values, may have a higher tendency to engage in dangerous driving such as speeding, as well as understanding that penalty conditions, such as point loss, show a correlation with speeding.

The purpose of the current study is to evaluate the relationship between discounting immediate and former life statuses prior to death related to quality of life across the lifespan. A discounting survey was completed by 83 participants in which they were asked to make hypothetical choices regarding returning back to an age they preferred or remaining at their current age prior to dying. In addition, participants completed surveys measuring quality of life, death depression, and death anxiety. Results indicated that participants who reported low quality of life and experienced high depression and anxiety towards death responded more impulsively to the discounting survey, engaging in steeper discounting. Additionally, results indicated that a positive correlation between participants aged 30 to 50 years old and AUC exists, indicating that as age increases, impulsivity decreases. However, this same trend was not evident in participants over the age of 65, yielding no correlation. Strengths and limitations, implications of the current study’s findings, and opportunities for future research are discussed.

Humans and other animals discount the value of future rewards, a phenomenon known as delay discounting. Individuals vary widely in the extent to which they discount future rewards, and these tendencies have been associated with important life outcomes. Recent studies have demonstrated that imagining the future reduces subsequent discounting behavior, but no research to date has examined whether a similar principle applies at the trait level, and whether training visualization changes discounting. The current study examined if individual differences in visualization abilities are linked to individual differences in discounting and whether practicing visualization can change discounting behaviors in a lasting way. Participants (n = 48) completed the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire (VVIQ) and delay discounting task and then underwent a 4-week intervention consisting of visualization training (intervention) or relaxation training (control). Contrary to our hypotheses, participants who reported greater visualization abilities (lower scores) on the VVIQ were higher discounters. To further examine this relationship, an additional 106 participants completed the VVIQ and delay discounting task. In the total sample (n = 154), there was a significant negative correlation between VVIQ scores and discount rates, showing that individuals who are better visualizers are also higher discounters. Consistent with this relationship but again to our surprise, visualization training tended, albeit weakly, to increase discount rates, and those whose VVIQ decreased the most were those whose discount rates increased the most. These results suggest a novel association between visualization abilities and delay discounting.

Given the high rates of premature termination in training clinics, research aimed at understanding client attrition is urgently needed. Recent investigations in this area have implicated expectations of psychotherapy as a strong predictor of premature termination; however, this phenomenon has only been studied from the perspective of client expectations to date. There is reason to believe clinician expectations for the duration and effectiveness of psychotherapy may further impact the likelihood of their clients terminating prematurely. This study sought to address this gap in the literature by examining the association of clinicians' expectations to clients' psychotherapy outcomes and termination status in a training clinic setting. Clinicians were found to hold significantly higher expectations for client improvement than would be expected, and these high expectations were found to be positively correlated with clinically significant change in clients. Implications for improving client retention and treatment outcome in training clinics are discussed.

Delay discounting is considered by many to be a risk factor for substance use disorders and other health-related behavior problems. While these health-related behavior problems are often treated with incentive-based interventions, little is known about whether delay discounting (DD) moderates response to that treatment approach. The present study examined how response to incentive-based smoking-cessation treatment varied as a function of baseline DD scores among pregnant women participating in randomized controlled clinical trials examining the efficacy of financial incentives. Women were assigned to a condition wherein they earned vouchers exchangeable for retail items contingent on abstinence from recent smoking or to a control condition wherein they received vouchers of comparable value but independent of smoking status. Individual differences in DD of hypothetical monetary rewards were measured at the study intake and follow-up assessments. We examined whether individual differences in baseline scores on that instrument predict antepartum and postpartum smoking status using logistic regression, and if sustaining abstinence caused changes in DD scores from intake to 24-weeks postpartum. We did not see any significant main effects of DD or interactions of DD with treatment on antepartum or postpartum smoking status. Treatment condition, baseline smoking rate (cigs/day), a history of quit attempts pre-pregnancy, and educational attainment were all associated with increased odds of abstaining from smoking at the late-pregnancy antepartum assessment, and treatment condition was the only significant predictor of abstaining from smoking at 24-weeks postpartum, three months after the treatment formally ended. We saw no discernible evidence that sustained abstinence from smoking was associated with post-treatment decreases in DD. Overall, we saw no evidence that being a steeper discounter is associated with a lack of success in quitting smoking in either treatment condition. Being assigned to the incentives condition was the only predictor of antepartum and postpartum abstinence. The observed associations of a lower baseline smoking rate, higher educational attainment, and a history of having attempted to quit smoking previously with increased odds of success in achieving antepartum smoking abstinence is consistent with results from previous reports on predictors of response to this treatment underscoring the reliability of these relationships.