The Preference Differences Between Older Adults And Younger Adults In Intertemporal Choice

Intertemporal choice refers to people’s weighing and making choices on the gains or losses occurring at different time nodes.Different groups show different preferences in intertemporal choice.Some studies have shown that there are differences in preference between older adults and younger adults in intertemporal choice,but no consistent conclusions have been reached.The purpose of this study is to further explore the patterns of intertemporal preference differences between older adults and younger adults,and to find the possible causes.The purpose of this study is to compare the intertemporal choice preferences of older adults and younger adults under different task types,benefit sizes and delay times,then establish the pattern of intertemporal choice preference difference between older adults and younger adults,and further explore the relationship between future time perception and age difference of intertemporal choice preference through relational research and experimental research and tried to explain the age difference of intertemporal choice preference from the perspective of future time perception.The main conclusions of this study were as follows:(1)Older adults and younger adults showed different preference difference patterns in different intertemporal choice tasks.In the monetary task,when the delay time was shorter and the amount was smaller,the delay discount rate of older adults was lower than that of younger adults;When the delay time was long,the delay discount rate of older adults was higher than that of younger adults regardless of the amount.In the non-monetary task,the delayed discounting rate of older adults was higher than that of younger adults regardless of the delay time.(2)Future time perception played a partial mediating role between age groups and delayed discount rate.(3)The priming of future time perception could change the preference of older adults and younger adutls in intertemporal choice.