Decision Making With Long-Term Consequences: Temporal Discounting for Single and Multiple Outcomes in the Future

Two experiments were conducted to investigate how individuals evaluate future outcomes. Normative decision models postulate that the value of future outcomes should be discounted as a function of time. The present research obtained discounted values for single outcomes in the future but did not obtain discounted values for outcomes presented in series. In Experiment 1, students evaluated (a) college-funding programs that required students to work to obtain support and (b) loans that required payments after completing college. A ratio-discounting function described the value of future support and deferred payments. In Experiment 2, students were asked to evaluate work-study programs that described variable support over 1 to 4 years. Temporal discounting did not occur for the series of outcomes—college support for the 4th year of college was just as valuable as support during the 1st year. These results are discussed in relation to a general model of temporal discounting.