Towards developing an applied behavioral technology that treats altruism as the dependent variable of interest, there is a necessity for understanding the contextual conditions under which altruistic behavior is most likely to occur. The purpose of the study was to evaluate how relative contextual conditions affected social discounting. Thirty-six participants were given three social discounting surveys, each survey preceded by a different contextual scenario. In each scenario, either the participant, a hypothetical other, or both the participant and the hypothetical other were in need of money to avoid a negative outcome. The results suggest that there was a significant difference in social discounting across the three contextual conditions F (2, 35) = 34.28., p < 0.0001), where the greatest discounting occurred when participants were exclusively in need. Hyperbolic functions provided a strong fit for each of the conditions (R² = 0.98, R² = 0.98, R² = 0.84, respectively), and the relationships between participant scores in each of the condition was evaluated.

Research on exotic dancers as a population indicates that exotic dancers may be a high risk population due to correlations of substance abuse and risky sexual behavior with the profession, (CDC, 2015; Sherman et. al, 2011; Reuben et. al, 2011; Forsyth & Deshotels, 1997). In delay discounting research, it has been demonstrated that populations of individuals who engage in risky sexual behavior and abuse substances have steeper rates of discounting on a delay discounting task compared to their peers (Moreira et. al, 2015; Jones et. al, 2015: Celio et al., 2016). Steeper rates of discounting indicate an increased degree of preference for smaller-sooner reward versus larger-later reward as measured by a discounting survey task with hypothetical monetary rewards and may indicate higher rates of impulsivity (Moller et al., 2001). This study sought to determine if exotic dancers delayed more steeply than restaurant worker peers. Results indicate that at longer delays, exotic dancers discount more steeply than their restaurant worker peers, which may indicate a higher degree of impulsivity among exotic dancers as a population..

Research on impulsivity has focused on the choices between sooner, smaller stimuli versus larger later stimuli. More recent methods that have studied health choices compared temporal and probability discounting tasks between control groups and a comparison group such as smokers, obese individuals, alcoholics, etc. While correlations have been derived between responses on discounting tasks and selection of actual monetary reinforcers, research has not been expanded to question choices pertaining directly to the targeted problem. A technology that reliably assesses choices directly related to these illnesses has yet to be developed. The current study attempted to expand on the technology of discounting by applying it to choices related to healthy eating. 11 participants completed a cross commodity health discounting survey and average proportion area under the curve (AUC) was calculated for survey 1 (M = .41) and survey 2 (M = .21) Correlations between weight and proportion AUC (r = 0.69), income and proportion AUC (r = -0.32), and age and proportion AUC (r = -0.40) were determined. Methodological error that altered 2 variables (hypothetical weight and weight loss option) between surveys limited direct comparisons between survey. Implications of data derived from such error were discussed.

The prevalence of procrastination in the college environment is extremely high with estimates that 80–90% of college students procrastinate when completing academic tasks. Since it impacts the majority of college students, early identification of an individual’s personality traits and behavioral delay discounting tendencies that may contribute to academic procrastination can lead to improved productivity and overall, a better college experience. The present study reviews what is already known about the relationships between personality and delay discounting with academic procrastination. Based on the review of the current literature, this study strives to reinforce and extend what is known about the relationships between these variables, improve the methodology used to examine these relationships, and provide a possible neural basis of procrastination. The proposed study will be conducted with first-year undergraduate student participants who attend Scripps College, over three academic terms (three participant samples). The study materials consist of two self-report personality measures (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and Revised NEO Personality Inventory), a delay discounting task involving choices between hypothetical monetary rewards, and two measures of academic procrastination: a self-report measure (Procrastination Assessment Scale—Students) and a behavioral measure through course assignment submission. The study predicts that the typical academic procrastinator is introverted, perceptive, neurotic, and impulsive. In addition, an academic procrastinator has tendencies toward poor self-discipline, non-conscientious behavior, and preferences for discounted future rewards. Limitations of this study and future directions are also discussed.

Previous research has shown that causal attributions can be made from patterns of covariation (Cheng, 1997). While the study of how humans learn contingencies goes back decades (e.g., Ward & Jenkins, 1965), cue interaction effects, involving covariations with two or more cues, have taken on particular importance (e.g., Shanks, 1985), due to their rich potential for theoretical insights. One such effect is causal discounting (Goedert & Spellman, 2005): People believe a cue is less contingent if they learned about it in the presence of a more contingent cue. Using a new method for investigating covariation detection, the steamed-trial technique (Allen et al., 2008), Art Markman, Kelly Goedert and I (Laux et al., 2010) have established that differences in bias underlie causal discounting. We argued that this implies discounting is an effect of a process employed to make causal judgments after learning has occurred. Analyses of how different theories account for discounting, especially simulations of associative models, establishes that this is not necessarily correct; several learning models can reproduce our data. However, model and data explorations show that the key feature of those data is that they track relative, not absolute, magnitudes. My dissertation extends this work establishing the plausibility of a comparative judgment process as the locus of causal discounting. I replicate the finding that responding tracks relative magnitudes. By conducting experiments that parametrically manipulate the contingency of the alternative cue (and thereby the relative contingency of the cues), I show that causal discounting is due to responding to contingencies as a linear function of their relative magnitude. I further verify that discounting manifests identically in response to contingencies presented via summary tables. Because summary tables do not afford the series of experiences necessary to build an association, this enhances the credibility of the theory that discounting is due to a shared process employed subsequent to learning—namely, a judgment process. These investigations reveal that discounting is not a cue interaction effect at all, but rather is a manifestation of a fundamental aspect of the systems that subserve covariation detection. / text

This study utilizes descriptive statistics and regression analysis to evaluate trends in and relationships between tuition price, institutional aid, enrollment, and tuition revenue and their determination of the net revenue generated by colleges and universities. In doing so, it defines how much institutions generate in net revenue utilizing a new metric, net revenue generation rate (NRGR). This allows a new way of thinking about the relationship between the listed tuition price, the investment in aid, and the resultant gain or loss incurred by institutions due to pricing and aiding strategies. Additionally, it explores NRGR in the context of various tuition prices and institutional types over an extended period of time, as no other previous study has done. Publics institutions with higher tuition prices generate higher NRGR's. The opposite is found for private institutions. However as price increases, NRGR decreases. Larger enrollments relate to higher NRGR's, however increases in enrollment negatively influence NRGR for public institutions and positively influence private instituion's NRGR. Baccalaureate, Doctoral, and institutions of higher selectivity produce the largest net revenue per student, yet do so at the lowest NRGR's.This study also introduces the first assessment of marginal NRGR as a means of directly measuring the impact of increasing tuition price on aid and how much institutions make from an increase in tuition. As institutions increase tuition price, institutional aid increases, decreasing the amount of incremental revenue generated from the change in tuition price. This behavior is most clear for private institutions and varies by institutional type.This study also introduces a number of theoretical explanations for pricing and aiding behaviors and their potential effects on the net revenue they generate. This includes a commitment to meeting student financial need as well as attempts to maximize quality and net revenue.Finally, this study provides the first comprehensive use of IPEDS data to address these questions. In doing so, it provides significant gains in the methodology and application of this data set for use in answering questions about tuition price, institutional aid, and net revenue generation across a broad array of institutional types over extended periods of time.

Online shopping has rapidly expanded in the last decade. Online shopping necessarily imposes delays on all transactions. Behavior analysis has long studied the effects of delay on choice. Additionally, a number of researchers are beginning to study consumer behavior using a behavior-analytic approach. The current study attempted to extend research focusing on consumer behavior in online contexts. The experimenters attempted to evaluate whether goods acquire functional properties and whether these properties influence consumer choice. The researchers were specifically interested in studying acquisition costs and durability and in simulating a natural online shopping environment. Results from the current study extend the findings showing that delay and price influence choice. The data from the current study provide mixed evidence for control by item durability.

The purpose of the current study is to apply delay and probability discounting in areas of treatment options, problem behaviors, and restraint usage with staff members. There was a total of 31 participants that completed three probability and delay discounting surveys either on the computer or by paper/pencil. Before the three surveys, they completed a demographic questionnaire. Participants had to choose from two choice, one that was immediate and the other had a delay in time. Survey one gave a scenario for treatment options, survey two had a scenario for problem behavior management, and then survey three’s scenario was about engaging in restraints. For each of the surveys, the results showed that staff did not engage in discounting. Survey one the AUC scores ranged from 0 to 0.99 (M= 0.77, SD=0.31) with R² value of 0.4156, survey two’s AUC score ranged from 0 to 0.99 (M= 0.54, SD=0.38) with R² value of 0.4356 and survey three’s AUC scores ranged from 0 to 0.99 (M= 0.53, SD=0.40) and R² value of 0.3498. Three different functions were used to show the best fit for the discounting curve, exponential, logarithmic, and polynomial. Overall, the three surveys showed that the participants had a lower level of impulsivity.

Thesis advisor: Elizabeth Kensinger / Thesis advisor: Katherine Mickley Steinmetz / Distractibility and impulsivity have long been thought of as two separate psychological processes; however, there is currently evidence that suggests otherwise. The aim of this study was to gain a better understanding on the behavioral level of the interaction between these two traits. I proposed a model in which some individuals have a higher than average threshold for activation of the top-down cognitive control resources that are important for directing and maintaining attention as well as for regulating impulsive behaviors. To test the strength of this model I used an experimental paradigm that combined two different types of tasks—a spatial working memory task and a delay discounting of a primary reward (juice) task. Participants were administered the Conners’ Adult ADHD Rating Scale in order to be classified in terms of their trait distractibility and trait impulsivity subscale scores. The results suggest that there is indeed an association between the traits of distractibility and impulsivity, and that they may be linked by a common mechanism involving a variable threshold of activation of top-down control resources to regulate these behaviors. / Thesis (BS) — Boston College, 2011. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: College Honors Program. / Discipline: Psychology.

Delay discounting (the devaluation of rewards delayed in time) has been studied extensively using animal models with psychophysical adjustment procedures. Similar procedures were soon developed to assess delay discounting in humans. Although across species the same mathematical function relates discounted value to imposed delay, several methodological concerns have been implicated in human delay discounting procedures. A procedure recently developed to address these concerns is the Experiential Discounting Task (EDT). This task arranges experienced delays and rewards that humans make decisions regarding—experiencing the outcomes of their choices within session before making additional choices. The popularity of this procedure has been fueled by reports of its sensitivity to acute experimental manipulation, and that it has been predictive of treatment success. Similar sensitivity results have not been found when a traditional delay discounting task (DDT) has been used. Though the EDT appears useful for a variety of reasons, it has not been subjected to the same rigorous internal validity and reliability tests that traditional DDTs have. In two experiments we examined the test-retest reliability of the EDT (Experiment 1) and the way in which choice trials are regulated (Experiment 2). Results demonstrate that the EDT is reliable across time and choice is insensitive to trial regulation differences. We conclude with a critique of the EDT as a procedure for assessing delay discounting and hypothesize other processes it may be measuring.