Abstract
As concerns regarding the current and future state of the planet continue to grow, the need to understand the behavioral mechanisms that underlie behaviors linked to large-scale delayed outcomes becomes more critical. Delay discounting refers to decline in the subjective value of stimuli as the delay-interval to access those stimuli increases. In this article, the relevance of delay discounting to issues of sustainability is explored, in addition to other relevant behavioral explanations of the issue. The research on delay discounting and related processes is summarized, specifically research that relates discounting and sustainability issues. Implications for behavior change and future research are discussed.
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Jamie L. Hirsh, Department of Psychology, Western Michigan University; Mack S. Costello, Department of Psychology, Rider University; R. Wayne Fuqua, Department of Psychology, Western Michigan University. Portions of this manuscript were previously presented at the 40th Annual Convention for the Association for Behavior Analysis International (May 2014) in Chicago, IL.
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Hirsh, J.L., Costello, M.S. & Fuqua, R.W. Analysis of Delay Discounting as a Psychological Measure of Sustainable Behavior. Behav. Soc. Iss. 24, 187–202 (2015). https://doi.org/10.5210/bsi.v24i0.5906
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.5210/bsi.v24i0.5906