Abstract

PIMENTEL, Duarte et al. Efeitos contextuais na escolha intertemporal: Evidência contra modelos de desconto. Aná. Psicológica [online]. 2012, vol.30, n.3, pp.269-284. ISSN 0870-8231.

Intertemporal choice has a direct relation with phenomena that pertain to every-day life, such as saving, consumption, and investment behavior. This study advances our understanding of intertemporal choice, in that it considers triadic choice contexts (three options) and not only dyadic ones (two options), to which most empirical studies are limited. For the first time, this study tries to understand how the preference between options is influenced by other options in the choice context. Current models of intertemporal choice, the so-called discounting models, do not consider such influences, because each option is evaluated independently from the others. We focus on polarization effects, induced by the introduction of a third option to the choice set and the framing of the third option as the default option. The results confirmed these effects. We discuss how discounting models must be replaced by other models, in which people make direct comparisons between the options. The results also confirmed phenomena that until today have been accommodated by discounting models: The delay, magnitude, and sign effects.

Keywords : Dyadic choice; Intertemporal choice; Polarization; Triadic choice.

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