Why delaying gratification is smart

September 9, 2008

If you had a choice between receiving $1,000 right now or $4,000 ten years from now, which would you pick? Psychologists use the term "delay discounting" to describe our inability to resist the temptation of a smaller immediate reward in lieu of receiving a larger reward at a later date. Discounting future rewards too much is a form of impulsivity, and an important way in which we can neglect to exert self-control.

Previous research suggests that higher intelligence is related to better self-control, but the reasons for this link are unknown. Psychologists Noah A. Shamosh and Jeremy R. Gray, from Yale University, and their colleagues, were interested in testing the idea that certain brain regions supporting short-term memory play a critical role in this relationship.

"It has been known for some time that intelligence and self-control are related, but we didn't know why. Our study implicates the function of a specific brain structure, the anterior prefrontal cortex, which is one of the last brain structures to fully mature," said Dr. Shamosh.

In this study, 103 healthy adults were presented with a delay discounting task to assess self-control: a series of hypothetical choices where they had to choose between two financial rewards, a smaller one which they would receive immediately or another, larger reward which would be received at a later time. The participants then underwent a variety of tests of intelligence and short term memory. On another day, subjects' brain activity was measured using fMRI, while they performed additional short-term memory tasks.

The results show that participants with the greatest activation in the brain region known as the anterior prefrontal cortex also scored the highest on intelligence tests and exhibited the best self-control during the financial reward test. This was the only brain region to show this relation. The results appear in the September issue of Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

Previous studies have shown that the anterior prefrontal cortex plays a role in integrating a variety of information. The authors suggest that greater activity in the anterior prefrontal cortex helps people not only to manage complex problems, resulting in higher intelligence, but also aids in dealing with simultaneous goals, leading to better self-control.

Knowledge of the neural mechanisms underlying the relationship between short term memory, intelligence and delay discounting may result in improved techniques of increasing self-control. This is particularly applicable in regulating behavior related to gambling and substance abuse. "Understanding the factors that support better self-control is relevant to a host of important behaviors, ranging from saving for retirement to maintaining physical and mental health," the authors conclude.

Source: Association for Psychological Science


   
Rate this story - 4.3 /5 (23 votes)

Rank Filter

Move the slider to adjust rank threshold, so that you can hide some of the comments.


Display comments: newest first

  • x646d63 - Sep 09, 2008
    • Rank: 5 / 5 (2)
    The example provided would only be useful if the $4,000 ten years from now is inflation-adjusted. As the American economy currently sits, I'd take the $1000 today and convert it to a different currency immediately, as $4,000 in ten years may not be worth nearly as much.
  • drel - Sep 09, 2008
    • Rank: 4.7 / 5 (3)
    10 years from now for the average person in this study might as well be 10,000 years. For too many in the U.S. it is all spend, borrow repeat. Savings to them is a foreign concept.

    The choice to "take it now" is all about either instant gratification or taking control. I agree with x646d63, I would take the 1,000 and invest it, where as I think most of my "fellow Americans" would buy new chrome rims or the latest wide screen TV.

  • bmcghie - Sep 09, 2008
    • Rank: not rated yet
    I'll take the $1000 in my canadian dollars, please. And then I'll use it to keep feeding one poor starving 4th year biology student. (That's me, by the way)
  • barakn - Sep 09, 2008
    • Rank: 1 / 5 (2)
    An APY of 15% would be sufficient to increase $1000 to $4000 over 10 years not taking into consideration taxes. If you are ethical enough to report the income than you would also lower your taxes by spreading the income over 10 years rather taking it as a lump sum, so the necessary APY might be even smaller. Talk to your accountant.
  • barakn - Sep 09, 2008
    • Rank: not rated yet
    Other factors would also need to be incorporated into the calculation, including the chances of you dying, becoming incapacitated, or incarcerated in the next 10 years, the chances that the organization offering the money will lose track of your location over those 10 years, that it will run out of money, that it will forget that it owes you, that it will simply refuse to hand over the money, etc.. In short, the idea that the $4000 is automatically a better choice results from naive simplifications and oversights.
  • Graeme - Sep 09, 2008
    • Rank: not rated yet
    Waiting for the $4000 dollars is pretty chancy, there is a good chance that the donor will change their mind or be unable to honour the promise, you may not be in a position to take the future cash either! Best to take the $1000 now.
  • bartek - Sep 09, 2008
    • Rank: 5 / 5 (1)
    I hope everyone realizes that we are talking about 14.87% compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) here, which comparatively, over a ten year period is impressive. Even the best fund managers have a hard time getting those types of results. Just check the results of your mutual fund manager over the past ten years.

    I propose the following solution, if this is investment is guaranteed, i.e. risk free, than your choice is clear. Just have a look at the treasury yields. If we are not talking about a risk free investment than I would recommend taking the $1,000 now if you think you or the market can beat a 14.87% CAGR during the next ten years.

    Hey barakn, in such case why bother with a 401K? If you want you can incorporate those externalities and risks in your discount rate. Even so 14.87% includes a high premium relative to the risk free rate.
  • bartek - Sep 09, 2008
    • Rank: not rated yet
    What we really need to know is the risk attached to the future cash flow so we can calculated risk adjusted return or simply compare the required return dictated by the risk versus the CAGR on the investment.
  • superhuman - Sep 10, 2008
    • Rank: not rated yet
    Risk is one thing, present financial condition might be much more important as pointed out by bmcghie. Starving is NOT smart.
  • Velanarris - Sep 10, 2008
    • Rank: 2.3 / 5 (3)
    I'd take the 1k right now. In 10 years the 4k will be worth less than the 1k is right now. That's simple currency and inflation modeling regardless of interest gain.

    And Drel, saving has never been a good idea, the only investment that will never really go down is real estate, because they can't really "make" more land at this point in time.
  • marjon - Sep 10, 2008
    • Rank: not rated yet
    ""It has been known for some time that intelligence and self-control are related, but we didn't know why."

    Maybe people who use religion to help them with self-control aren't so dumb after all?
  • drel - Sep 10, 2008
    • Rank: not rated yet
    And Drel, saving has never been a good idea, the only investment that will never really go down is real estate, because they can't really "make" more land at this point in time.

    True, I'm not talking about burying it in a Mason jar out back, but rather investing. Quality antiques are also not being made anymore either (not counting counterfeits) and I believe better that "paper". I would rather have a "Monet" than money or a stock certificate. IMO the Monet would always look better hanging on my wall.
  • Modernmystic - Sep 10, 2008
    • Rank: 3 / 5 (2)
    What if you're dead in ten years? What good is the 4000 gonna do you then?
  • Velanarris - Sep 10, 2008
    • Rank: not rated yet
    ""It has been known for some time that intelligence and self-control are related, but we didn't know why."

    Maybe people who use religion to help them with self-control aren't so dumb after all?


    Nah, that's someone "smarter" thinking for them. If you give up your self control to another power, which happens to be better at it than you, you can't attribute your "self"-control to that group, person, body, etc.
  • Modernmystic - Sep 10, 2008
    • Rank: not rated yet
    Nah, that's someone "smarter" thinking for them. If you give up your self control to another power, which happens to be better at it than you, you can't attribute your "self"-control to that group, person, body, etc.


    IOW something very like the government, or the scientific community then.
  • General_Haberdashery - Sep 14, 2008
    • Rank: 5 / 5 (1)
    A better question would be, "How many months would you have to wait before you decided to instead take the $1000?"

    Any reasonably smart person can turn $1000 into $4000 over ten years.

    EDIT: Based on this survey maybe you could find a supposedly stupid person and say, I'll give you a thousand dollars but you need to pay me 10 dollars a month for the next three years four months. It works well for credit card company's.
  • General_Haberdashery - Sep 14, 2008
    • Rank: not rated yet
    I posted that at 1:00 AM and in the shower this morning went, "Wait... ten dollars...? Dumbass."

    No one in their right mind is going to pay a hundred dollars a month.

    Get in the bail bond business maybe?

September 9, 2008 all stories

Comments: 17

4.3 /5 (23 votes)

  • hide
  • Related Stories

  • Changes proposed in how psychiatrists diagnose
    created 3 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0
  • Startup lets webcams detect people
    created Feb 08, 2010 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0
  • Neuroscientists making computers smart enough to see connections between brain's neurons
    created Jan 28, 2010 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0
  • Intelligence in young children is not influenced by omega 3 fatty acid
    created Jan 22, 2010 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0
  • Face recognition ability inherited separately from IQ
    created Jan 19, 2010 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0



  • hide
  • Relevant PhysicsForums posts

Other News

IQ among strongest predictors of cardiovascular disease -- second only to cigarette smoking

Medicine & Health / Health

created 3 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 6 | with audio podcast

as reflected by low results on written or oral tests of IQ - have been associated with a raised risk of cardiovascular disease, no study has so far compared the relative strength of this association with other established ...


Communication breakdown: What happens to nerve cells in Parkinson's disease

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created 4 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

A new study from The Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital - The Neuro - at McGill University is the first to discover a molecular link between Parkinson's disease and defects in the ability of nerve cells to communicate. ...


Whooping cough vaccine may be losing its punch: study

Medicine & Health / Diseases

created 1hour ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Vaccination programs against whooping cough may not be fully effective because the bacteria that cause the disease have evolved new strains, a new study has found. A team of Australian scientists has ...


A common cholesterol drug fights cataracts, too

Medicine & Health / Medications

created 2 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 1

Statins, a class of drugs used to lower cholesterol levels, have been successfully fighting heart disease for years. A new study from Tel Aviv University has now found that the same drugs cut the risks of cataracts in men ...


Changes proposed in how psychiatrists diagnose

Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry

created 3 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 1

(AP) -- Don't say "mental retardation" - the new term is "intellectual disability." No more diagnoses of Asperger's syndrome - call it a mild version of autism instead. And while "behavioral addictions" will be new to doctors' ...