The Influence Of Construal Level And The Magnitude Of Reward On Delay Discounting

Delay discounting is a psychological phenomenon that the individual’s current subjectivevalue of a future reward decreases as time goes on, which is a function of the delay toreceiving rewards. Construal Level Theory assumes that differences various from individualsin construal are due to differences in the way people usually represent events in the near or farfuture. People conceive that the shorter and smaller rewards in relatively concrete terms,while the longer and larger in relatively abstract terms. Domain effect proposes that the delaydiscounting rate is a diversity of individuals because of what independent domain your choicebelongs to.We selected college students as participants, while using the delay discounting rate k andtwo-parameter model as delay discounting measures. The match method plays the role as theexperimental paradigms. This paper investigates the effects of construal level and themagnitude of rewards on delay discounting by priming individuals’ low level of construal.(1)In domain of money, the delay discounting rate of larger number is significantly lowerthan smaller number, which proves the existence of magnitude effect in delay discounting ofmoney.(2)In domain of time, the delay discounting rate of the long vacation of35days issignificantly lower than a short leave of2days, which proves the existence of magnitudeeffect in delay discounting of time.(3) In low-construal-level priming, the delay discounting rate of the long vacation of35days isn’t significantly lower than a short leave of2days, which proves no existence inmagnitude effect in delay discounting of time with construal-level priming.(4)The delay discounting rate of the long vacation of35days is significantly lower than ashort leave of2days, which proves the existence of magnitude effect in delay discounting oftime without construal-level priming.