Student Number : 0317854T - MEd research report - School of Education - Faculty of Humanities / School effectiveness and school improvement research is a worldwide phenomenon that has inspired a great deal of literature. This report examines teachers’ perceptions of a teacher-led curriculum development initiative currently effective in independent schools in the Gauteng Province of South Africa, and it describes strategies for implementation for interested schools. It is a programme that focuses school improvement back into the classroom, with teachers leading the changes at their site of practice. The Gauteng Independent Schools Curriculum Development Initiative (GISCDI) is a teacher-led initiative. Qualitative research generates an understanding of how the mechanisms of this initiative impact on the lives of teachers and students. It provides detailed explanations of teachers’ perceptions of change in actual classroom practices, pedagogy and curriculum implementation by entering into conversations with selected participants. It considers the changes in light of reflective practice, after involvement in the GISCDI. The report accesses the different methodologies the teachers implemented in their classrooms, after the teacher-led interventions were presented to them. It also considers the concepts of teacher leadership, trust, distributed leadership and collegiality as being the core elements to initiating, implementing and sustaining change in practice, to benefit student learning and improving schools.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the award of Masters of Arts in Demography and Population Studies, 2017 / Background: Risky behaviours among adolescents are notably the most important factors contributing to negative health outcomes of this population group. Adolescents in South Africa are at risk of the HIV infection, unintended pregnancies, unintentional injuries (motor vehicle accidents) and substance and drug abuse. South Africa is regarded as one of the countries with nearly half adolescents living with HIV, as a result of unprotected sex. It is also regarded as one of the countries with motor accidents cases and as a result of reckless driving and substance use. To understand this, there is substantial research on the demographic and socio-demographic determinants of risky behaviour amongst adolescents but little research on the household and community factors. The main aim of this study is to determine the contextual determinants of adolescent risky behaviours in South Africa. Method: This study used data from the South African Youth Life Style Survey of 2008. The study sample size is 3336 adolescents aged 12 to 19 across all nine provinces in South Africa. Risky behaviours are organized using an ecological framework into individual, household, and community levels. Binary- multilevel logistic regression was employed to analyze the data. Results: The results indicated that age, sex, education, race, living arrangements, number of income earners, were significant, however, the relationship between risky behaviours and community level variables were negatively significant. . 3336 adolescents participated in the study, 934 (28.0%) had sexual intercourse and 158 (4.74%) had two or more sexual partners, and 234 (7.01) did not use a condom during their last sex. In terms of substance use, 34.24 % ever used alcohol and about 24.45% ever been a passenger with a driver under the influence. Adolescents who were living with their grandparents (OR=1.07), living in a household with seven or more members (OR=1.06), while residing in had a higher likelihood of engaging in risky behaviours. Findings demonstrated that community level factors were not associated with reports of risky behaviour among adolescents but were influential in shaping the risky behaviour of adolescents. Conclusion: Firstly, results from this research will provide a better understanding of the contextual factors that relate to risky behaviours. Secondly, results from this research will help inform polices such as the National Youth Policy in reducing risky behaviours. Lastly, interventions aimed at reducing risky behaviours among adolescents in South Africa should not only focus on individual level but also on the household and community engagement. / XL2018

La présente étude s’interroge sur les rapports entre la prise de risque et différentes variables individuelles et sociales ─ l’identité sexuée, la recherche de sensations, l’estime de soi, l’attachement aux parents et la supervision parentale ─ chez jeunes adolescents piétons âgés de 9 à 14 ans. Afin d’obtenir les données, 948 participants scolarisés de la classe de CM1 à celle 3ème ont répondu à un questionnaire. Les résultats nous ont permis de confirmer que d’une part les garçons prennent plus de risques que les filles et d’autre part, que plus l’enfant est âgé plus il prend des risques dans l’espace routier. Les résultats confirment également l’existence de liens entre l’identité sexuée, la recherche de sensations, l’attachement aux parents, la supervision parentale et la prise de risque piéton. Par contre, l’estime de soi n’est pas corrélée à la prise de risque piéton. Des analyses de régression linéaires nous ont permis de montrer que la recherche de sensations s’explique par non seulement un besoin biologique ou physiologique de sensations mais aussi par un besoin de correspondre à des rôles sociaux, à la norme. La recherche de sensations c’est en grande partie quelque chose qui vise à satisfaire un besoin identitaire, rôles de sociaux auxquels on est tenu d’adhérer. Le modèle de Baron et Kenny (1986) nous a permis de vérifier que la supervision parentale agit bien comme variable médiatrice entre l’attachement des parents et la prise de risque piéton. Ainsi nous proposons un modèle plus complexe du MIO (modèle interne opérant) de Greenberg (1987). En effet, la supervision fait partie de l’attachement ; c'est-à-dire qu’en plus des dimensions communication/confiance et aliénation, on ajoute la dimension de supervision. Le sentiment d’être bien supervisé par les parents explique la mise en danger de soi en plus de l’attachement confiant. / In the present study, we investigate the relationships between risk-taking and different individual and social variables – gender-role identity, sensations-seeking, self-esteem partial-attachment and parental-supervision – in young adolescent pedestrians (9 to 14 years old). In order to obtain valuable data, 948 pupils from CM1 to 3rd had to answer a set of questions. The results have confirmed that, on the one hand, boys take more risks than girls, and on the other hand, the more the child is old, the more he takes risks in the road-space. The results confirm, also, the association of the variables gender-role identity, sensations-seeking, parental attachment and parental supervision with the pedestrian risk-taking. On the other hand, there is no relationship between self-esteem and pedestrian risk-taking. A series of multiple regression analyses have shown that sensations-seeking cannot be explained only by biological or physiological need of sensations, but also by the need to correspond with the social roles. The Baron and Kenny (1986) model allows to verify that the parental-supervision does act as a mediating variable between parental-attachment and pedestrian risk-taking. So, we propose a more complex model of the MIO (construct of “working models”) of Greenberg (1987). Supervision is one of the dimensions of the attachment that is to say that, in addition to the communication/confidence and alienation dimensions, there is the supervision dimension. The feeling of being well-supervised by the parents, explains the self-endangering in addition to the confident-attachment.

English is taught in Swedish schools as a foreign language. The students are at different levels, and most of them try to achieve a higher proficiency level. While the extent to which students are successful at learning a language depends on many different factors. Previous studies have shown that students who are open to taking risks in their production are at an advantage. The present study investigated 80 texts written by students in the seventh and the ninth grade. The main aim was to investigate to what extent errors and complexity levels can be explained in relation to risk taking. In more detail, the study examined differences between the grades in terms of degree of syntactic complexity and what kinds of aspect and tense errors were made. To be able to investigate the errors an approach called Error Analysis was used. The results showed that for both grades, substitution errors were the most common error and there was a significant difference between the grades (p<0.001); however, the other errors showed no significant differences. Regarding the complexity levels, there was a highly significant difference (significance level p<0.001) for the least complex sentences, but there were no significant differences between the grades for the highest and second highest levels of complexity. The results furthermore suggest that there is a correlation between risk taking and a higher likelihood of making errors, as a large proportion of the erroneous sentences written by students from the ninth grade were found in syntactically complex sentences. Most of the errors made by students in the seventh grade were found in less syntactically complex sentences however.

Background: The traditional neoclassical model of finance has assumed that all individuals act rationally and that they update their beliefs according to the information they have obtained to maximise their utility. This concept has been challenged by behavioural finance which has over the past decades become a new approach to better understand certain behaviours. Behavioural finance is a broad area which can be divided into different areas. One of them is investor behaviour, which will be the focus of this thesis. Research has shown that investors do not act rationally when deciding how much risk to take when considering an investment. Instead, it has been found that there are other factors that influence risk-taking in an investment, for instance gender, income, marital status and age. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to better understand if a selected group of demographic factors can affect the risk attitude investors in Sweden have with regard to their investments and to determine how well these factors explain the level of risk. The chosen demographic factors are gender, age, marital status and income. Method: This study is conducted using a deductive approach and employing a quantitative research method. A multinomial logistic regression was performed in the statistical program R. The data used is secondary data collected from financial counselling meetings of 111,265 clients during the period of 2018-01-03 to 2019-04-04. It is gathered from one of Sweden’s largest bank who measures customers’ risk tolerance by using a risk assessment tool that categorises risk tolerance into five levels where one is the lowest and five is the highest. Conclusion: Statistically significant results confirm that that the selected demographic factors have an effect on the risk level an investor takes. Males have higher risk tolerance than women, the older an individual is, the less risk the person wants to take, married people have higher risk tolerance than those that are not, and risk tolerance increases slightly with income.

Seres humanos e outros organismos geralmente descontam o futuro, preferindo receber recompensas imediatas a postergadas. Essa tendência comum é compreensível, em grande parte, porque preterir o consumo de benefícios aumenta amplamente o risco de perdê-los. Ademais, a impaciência intertemporal pode ser adaptativa. A reprodução antecipada, em comparação com a tardia, produz em média um aumento na taxa de sucesso reprodutivo. Entretanto, apesar de ser uma tendência geral, o desconto do futuro pode variar transitoriamente em função de estimulações contextuais, especialmente, pistas de oportunidades sexuais. O objetivo do presente trabalho foi investigar fontes situacionais de variabilidade na preferência temporal. Para tanto, foram realizados quatro estudos visando avaliar os efeitos de indicadores de reciprocidade social, elementos arbitrários condicionados e qualidade de recursos limitantes sobre os índices de desconto do futuro, usando: (1) imagens de pessoas do sexo oposto expressando emoções de alegria e nojo; (2) vídeos de pessoas engajadas em entrevistas amigáveis e não amigáveis; (3) cores do ambiente experimental associadas a imagens de pessoas do sexo oposto e (4) imagens de alimentos atraentes e não atraentes. Os efeitos de tais estímulos foram medidos através de uma tarefa que costuma ser usada para avaliar desconto de futuro, formada por dois conjuntos de escolhas monetárias feitas pelos participantes antes e após a estimulação. Cada escolha monetária constituiu de um par de opções entre um valor (x) amanhã ou outro (x + y) daqui (z) dias. Adicionalmente, foram investigadas fontes individuais de variação na preferência temporal. Para tanto, foi realizado um estudo correlacional e transversal usando questionários estruturados, investigando possíveis preditores de desconto do futuro. O intuito foi averiguar as relações entre taxas de desconto do futuro e diferenças individuais, tais como sexo, idade, propensão ao risco e índices socioeconômicos. Os resultados apontam que a tendência ao imediatismo pode ser acentuada em contextos com a presença de cor com comprimento de onda longo associada a estados de excitação, em contraposição à cor com menor comprimento de onda; e diminuída pela exposição a estímulos alimentares com alto valor calórico, em comparação a estímulos alimentares de baixo teor energético. Além disso, o desconto do futuro apresenta correlação negativa com status socioeconômico, podendo este último predizer altas taxas de desconto temporal. Conclui-se que o desconto do futuro pode variar em função da ativação de estados de excitação e de sistemas motivacionais básicos e em resposta a escassez de recursos materiais. Conjuntamente, os resultados são compatíveis com a interpretação de que escolhas imediatistas estão relacionadas ultimamente a maximização da aptidão em determinados contextos; e que a preferência temporal é um processo multidimensional, possivelmente, englobando o funcionamento de diferentes mecanismos voltados para operar em dimensões específicas / Humans and other organisms generally discount the future, preferring immediate over delayed rewards. This general preference is understandable, largely because delaying consumption increases the risk of losing the benefit. Moreover, the intertemporal impatience can be adaptive. Earlier reproduction produces an average increase in the rate of reproductive success than later reproduction. However, although it is a general tendency, the future discounting may vary temporarily due to contextual stimuli, especially cues of sexual opportunities. The objective of this study was to investigate situational sources of variability in time preference. To this end, four studies were conducted to evaluate the effects of cues of reciprocity, conditioned arbitrary contextual stimuli, and quality of limiting resources on the rate of future discounting, using: (1) images of the opposite sex expressing happiness and disgust, (2) videos of people engaged in friendly and non-friendly interviews, (3) colors of the experimental environment associated with images of the opposite sex, and (4) pictures of attractive and unattractive food. The effects of these stimuli were measured using a task that is often used to evaluate future discounting, formed by two sets of monetary choices completed by participants before and after the stimulation. Each monetary choice has two options: a monetary value for tomorrow (x) or more (x + y) in a specified future (z days). Additionally, we investigated individual sources of variation in time preference. For this purpose, a correlational and transversal study was conducted using structured questionnaires to investigate possible predictors of future discounting. The aim was to examine the relationship between future discounting rates and individual differences such as gender, age, risk propensity, and socioeconomic indexes. The results show that the future discounting rates can be increased in the presence of long-wavelength color associated with states of arousal as opposed to short-wavelength color, and decreased by exposure to high-calorie food stimuli compared to low-calorie food stimuli. Moreover, the future discounting shows a negative correlation with socioeconomic status, and that the latter can predict high rates of temporal discounting. It is concluded that the future discounting may vary depending on the activation of arousal state, basic motivational systems, and in response to scarcity of material resources. Jointly, the results are consistent with the interpretation that immediate choices are related in evolutionary terms to fitness maximization in certain environments, and that the time preference is a multidimensional process, possibly comprising distinct domain-specific mechanisms

Within the evolutionary framework of sexual selection and parental investment theory, the study employed four experiments to examine the effects of mating and parenting awareness on the perception and assessment of high risk sports. In Study 1, participants were exposed, in random order, five types of pictures---attractive female, regular female, attractive male, regular male, and award winning pictures. After the activation of each of these pictures, participants were asked to respond to pictures depicting high risk sport events. The reaction time to high risk sport events was shortest when men saw attractive female pictures. The same effect was not found in female participants viewing attractive male pictures. Study 2 used the same mating awareness manipulation (attractive female pictures versus other pictures) but also added parenting and child rearing pictures depicting pregnant women or young children with their mothers. The results showed that men's reaction time to high risk sports was shorter when exposed to attractive female pictures than other conditions and was longer when exposed to parenting-related pictures. Study 3 included socialsexual orientation as a covariate and results similar to Study 1 were obtained after controlling for the extraneous influence of socialsexual orientation. Study 4 focused on risk assessment in different domains including entertainment, financial investment, health and social risk. The results showed that men under-assessed risk in the entertainment domain when exposed to attractive female pictures than to award winning pictures. However, the same effect was not found with other risk domains. Overall, the findings support the evolutionary account of risk taking which is sexually selected male attribute as an ornament to attract mating partners and which is reduced when men shift from mating to parenting and child rearing concerns. One practical implication for controlling risk taking behaviors among adolescents is the knowledge that risk taking behavior may be more likely in mixed- than in single-gender social groups. / 李宏利. / Adviser: Lei Chang. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-06, Section: A, page: 1923. / Thesis (doctoral)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 93-118). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in Chinese and English. / School code: 1307. / Li Hongli.

La conduite des politiques économiques a été mise en question après le déclenchement de la crise financière en 2007. Cette thèse analyse les faiblesses identifiées dans la réglementation existante avant la crise et propose des pistes d’amélioration. Le premier chapitre s’intéresse à l’existence du canal de la prise de risque en zone euro. Parle biais des mesures de causalité de long terme, nous démontrons que la politique monétaire a une influence sur le niveau de risque financier. Un autre constat tiré de cette analyse concerne l’absence des mesures de risque systémique.Par conséquent, le deuxième chapitre étudie les mesures proposées après la crise pour les institutions financières et les applique aux États membres de la zone euro. A l’aide de ces mesures, les autorités pourront imposer des règles plus strictes aux pays les plus risqués d’un point de vue systémique. Le chapitre trois envisage une première solution visant à atténuer l’effet des décisions monétaires sur le risque. Nous étudions, à travers un modèle DSGE, l’impact de la stratégie de “leaning against the wind” sur les cycles économiques et financiers. Les résultats montrent qu’unetelle approche n’est pas suffisante pour stabiliser l’économie et que des arbitrages entre objectifs apparaissent. Pour cette raison, le dernier chapitre porte plus en détail sur les arbitrages entre objectifs, et propose, comme une deuxième solution, l’intégration des mesures macroprudentielles dans l’analyse. En utilisant un modèle Néo-Keynésien sous forme réduite, nous trouvons que les fonds propres contracycliques aident à réduire la volatilité des cycles, mais que les trade-offs demeurent en cas de chocs financiers. Le rôle de la banque centrale dans le maintien de la stabilité financière s’avère aussi important, puisque l’utilisation du leaning against the wind semble améliorer la volatilité des cycles. / The conduct of economic policy has been called into question after the outbreak of the financial crisis in2007. This thesis analyzes the flaws identified in the regulation enforced before the crisis and offers suggestionsfor improvement. The first chapter focuses on the existence of the risk-taking channel in the Eurozone. Throughmeasures of long-term causality, we demonstrate that monetary policy influences the level of financial risk. Anotherconclusion drawn from this analysis is the absence of systemic risk measures. Therefore, the second chapter analyzesthe measures proposed after the crisis for financial institutions and applies them to members of the Eurozone. Basedon these measures, authorities may impose stricter rules on countries that prove to be systemically risky. Chapterthree considers a first solution to mitigate the effect of monetary policy decisions on risk. We study, through a DSGEmodel, the impact of the "leaning against the wind" strategy on economic and financial cycles. The results show thatthis approach is not sufficient to stabilize the economy and that it gives rise to trade-offs between objectives. For thisreason, the last chapter examines in more detail the trade-offs between objectives, and proposes as second solution,the integration of macroprudential measures in the analysis. Using a reduced form New-Keynesian model, we find thatcountercyclical capital helps to reduce the volatility of cycles, but trade-offs appear in case of financial shocks. Therole of the central bank in maintaining financial stability seems also important, as the use of leaning against the windimproves cycles’ volatility.

L’objectif de cette thèse est d’étudier le rôle des actionnaires contrôleurs dans la prise de décisions financières des entreprises. En particulier, elle met l’accent sur l’effet de la présence et du pouvoir de vote des actionnaires contrôleurs multiples (ACM) sur la prise de risque de l’entreprise, la maturité de la dette et le choix de la source d’endettement. La thèse est composée de trois essais sur le rôle que peuvent jouer les ACM en termes de gouvernance d’entreprise.Le premier essai, intitulé étudie le rôle des ACM dans la prise de risque au sein de l’entreprise. L’utilisation d’un échantillon d’entreprises familiales françaises cotées en bourse sur la période 2003‒2012 montre que la présence, le nombre et le pouvoir de vote des ACM sont associés à une prise de risque plus élevée. Les résultats suggèrent que les ACM contribuent à limiter la propension des propriétaires familiaux à entreprendre des investissements à faible risque. Cet effet est beaucoup plus fort dans les entreprises où les conflits d’agence sont plus susceptibles d’exister. Les résultats mettent en évidence l’importance du rôle de gouvernance joué par les ACM et peuvent améliorer notre compréhension de l’effet de ces actionnaires sur la performance des entreprises familiales.Le deuxième essai, examine le rôle que peuvent jouer les ACM dans la détermination de la maturité de la dette de leurs entreprises. La littérature en gouvernance d’entreprise a montré que les actionnaires contrôleurs peuvent détourner à leurs profits les ressources de leurs entreprises au détriment des autres actionnaires. Un tel comportement conduit ces actionnaires dominants à préférer l’endettement à long terme pour réduire la fréquence du contrôle effectué par les créanciers, ce qui peut créer des conflits entre l’actionnaire dominant et les actionnaires minoritaires portant sur la structure de la maturité de la dette. Dans ce chapitre, nous examinons si la présence des ACM contribue à atténuer ces conflits. À partir de données collectées sur des entreprises françaises cotées en bourse et observées sur la période 1998‒2013, nous trouvons que les entreprises avec des ACM ont tendance à se financer par des dettes à court terme. Ce résultat suggère que la présence des ACM réduit l’extraction de bénéfices privés par l’actionnaire contrôleur, ce qui permet d’enrayer sa tendance à préférer l’endettement à long terme.Le troisième essai, intitulé examine l’effet de la présence et du pouvoir de vote des ACM sur le choix de la source de la dette. Nous utilisons un échantillon de 6 238 observations couvrant 654 entreprises françaises cotées sur la période 1998‒2013. Nous constatons que la présence des ACM et leur pouvoir de vote augmentent le recours à la dette bancaire. De plus, nous trouvons que l’effet des ACM sur le choix de la dette est plus important lorsque les problèmes d’agence entre l’actionnaire dominant et les actionnaires minoritaires sont plus sévères. Dans l’ensemble, nos résultats suggèrent que les ACM réduisent l’opportunisme de l’actionnaire majoritaire qui cherche à se prémunir contre la surveillance bancaire, conduisant à plus de dépendance à l’égard de la dette bancaire. / The present dissertation is a collection of three essays. The first one investigates the role of multiple large shareholders (MLS) in corporate risk-taking. Using a sample of publicly listed French family firms over the period 2003‒2012, we show that the presence, number and voting power of MLS, beyond the controlling owner, are associated with higher risk-taking. Our results suggest that MLS help restrain the propensity of family owners to undertake low-risk investments. This effect is much stronger in firms that are more susceptible to agency conflicts. The results highlight the important governance role played by MLS in family firms and may explain why MLS are associated with higher firm performance.The second essay studies the relation between MLS, beyond the controlling owner, and corporate debt maturity. We employ a large data set of French publicly traded firms during the period 1998–2013 and we find strong evidence that firms with MLS exhibit shorter debt maturity. This result indicates that MLS curb the extraction of private benefits by the controlling owner and reduce her preference for less monitoring through the use of longer maturity debt. The findings are robust to a number of checks, including addressing endogeneity concerns and using alternative sample compositions and alternative regression frameworks.The third essay examines the effect of MLS on the choice of debt source. Using a sample of 6,238 firm–year observations covering 654 French listed firms from 1998 to 2013, we show that reliance on bank debt financing increases with the presence of MLS and with their contestability of the controlling owner’s power. Moreover, we find that the effect of MLS on debt choice is more pronounced when agency problems between controlling and minority shareholders are more severe. Taken together, our results suggest that the presence of MLS reduces the incentive of the controlling owner to avoid scrutiny and to insulate herself from bank monitoring, leading to more reliance on bank debt.

Seres humanos e outros organismos geralmente descontam o futuro, preferindo receber recompensas imediatas a postergadas. Essa tendência comum é compreensível, em grande parte, porque preterir o consumo de benefícios aumenta amplamente o risco de perdê-los. Ademais, a impaciência intertemporal pode ser adaptativa. A reprodução antecipada, em comparação com a tardia, produz em média um aumento na taxa de sucesso reprodutivo. Entretanto, apesar de ser uma tendência geral, o desconto do futuro pode variar transitoriamente em função de estimulações contextuais, especialmente, pistas de oportunidades sexuais. O objetivo do presente trabalho foi investigar fontes situacionais de variabilidade na preferência temporal. Para tanto, foram realizados quatro estudos visando avaliar os efeitos de indicadores de reciprocidade social, elementos arbitrários condicionados e qualidade de recursos limitantes sobre os índices de desconto do futuro, usando: (1) imagens de pessoas do sexo oposto expressando emoções de alegria e nojo; (2) vídeos de pessoas engajadas em entrevistas amigáveis e não amigáveis; (3) cores do ambiente experimental associadas a imagens de pessoas do sexo oposto e (4) imagens de alimentos atraentes e não atraentes. Os efeitos de tais estímulos foram medidos através de uma tarefa que costuma ser usada para avaliar desconto de futuro, formada por dois conjuntos de escolhas monetárias feitas pelos participantes antes e após a estimulação. Cada escolha monetária constituiu de um par de opções entre um valor (x) amanhã ou outro (x + y) daqui (z) dias. Adicionalmente, foram investigadas fontes individuais de variação na preferência temporal. Para tanto, foi realizado um estudo correlacional e transversal usando questionários estruturados, investigando possíveis preditores de desconto do futuro. O intuito foi averiguar as relações entre taxas de desconto do futuro e diferenças individuais, tais como sexo, idade, propensão ao risco e índices socioeconômicos. Os resultados apontam que a tendência ao imediatismo pode ser acentuada em contextos com a presença de cor com comprimento de onda longo associada a estados de excitação, em contraposição à cor com menor comprimento de onda; e diminuída pela exposição a estímulos alimentares com alto valor calórico, em comparação a estímulos alimentares de baixo teor energético. Além disso, o desconto do futuro apresenta correlação negativa com status socioeconômico, podendo este último predizer altas taxas de desconto temporal. Conclui-se que o desconto do futuro pode variar em função da ativação de estados de excitação e de sistemas motivacionais básicos e em resposta a escassez de recursos materiais. Conjuntamente, os resultados são compatíveis com a interpretação de que escolhas imediatistas estão relacionadas ultimamente a maximização da aptidão em determinados contextos; e que a preferência temporal é um processo multidimensional, possivelmente, englobando o funcionamento de diferentes mecanismos voltados para operar em dimensões específicas / Humans and other organisms generally discount the future, preferring immediate over delayed rewards. This general preference is understandable, largely because delaying consumption increases the risk of losing the benefit. Moreover, the intertemporal impatience can be adaptive. Earlier reproduction produces an average increase in the rate of reproductive success than later reproduction. However, although it is a general tendency, the future discounting may vary temporarily due to contextual stimuli, especially cues of sexual opportunities. The objective of this study was to investigate situational sources of variability in time preference. To this end, four studies were conducted to evaluate the effects of cues of reciprocity, conditioned arbitrary contextual stimuli, and quality of limiting resources on the rate of future discounting, using: (1) images of the opposite sex expressing happiness and disgust, (2) videos of people engaged in friendly and non-friendly interviews, (3) colors of the experimental environment associated with images of the opposite sex, and (4) pictures of attractive and unattractive food. The effects of these stimuli were measured using a task that is often used to evaluate future discounting, formed by two sets of monetary choices completed by participants before and after the stimulation. Each monetary choice has two options: a monetary value for tomorrow (x) or more (x + y) in a specified future (z days). Additionally, we investigated individual sources of variation in time preference. For this purpose, a correlational and transversal study was conducted using structured questionnaires to investigate possible predictors of future discounting. The aim was to examine the relationship between future discounting rates and individual differences such as gender, age, risk propensity, and socioeconomic indexes. The results show that the future discounting rates can be increased in the presence of long-wavelength color associated with states of arousal as opposed to short-wavelength color, and decreased by exposure to high-calorie food stimuli compared to low-calorie food stimuli. Moreover, the future discounting shows a negative correlation with socioeconomic status, and that the latter can predict high rates of temporal discounting. It is concluded that the future discounting may vary depending on the activation of arousal state, basic motivational systems, and in response to scarcity of material resources. Jointly, the results are consistent with the interpretation that immediate choices are related in evolutionary terms to fitness maximization in certain environments, and that the time preference is a multidimensional process, possibly comprising distinct domain-specific mechanisms