Article
Personality Influences Hyperbolic Discounting
Open Access Library Journal
(2017)
Abstract
We gather survey evidence for the influence of the HEXACO personality traits on the phenomenon of hyperbolic discounting. We also consider the demographics of age, sex, income and education, and evaluate how these interact with personality and hyperbolic discounting. Due to a sampling technique of “snowball”, we assembled a sample of well-educated and relatively wealthy adults from both sexes. Most respondents escaped hyperbolic discounting, and for those affected there was no “magnitude effect”. Those participants showing higher conscientiousness were less hyperbolic. Moreover, those more open to experience who were more extroverted at the same time were also less hyperbolic. We also detail how such personality traits influence hyperbolic discounting mediated by the demographics of age, sex, income and educational attainment. Thus, conscientiousness, openness to experience and extraversion are traits that contribute to rational decisions in intertemporal choice in our sample, in that participants with these personality traits are less hyperbolic.
Disciplines
Publication Date
2017
DOI
10.4236/oalib.1103998
Citation Information
Sergio Da Silva, Dinorá De Faveri and Raul Matsushita. "Personality Influences Hyperbolic Discounting" Open Access Library Journal Vol. 4 Iss. e3998 (2017) p. 1 - 12 ISSN: 2333-9721 Available at: http://works.bepress.com/sergiodasilva/179/