Morewedge Carey K, Gilbert Daniel T, Keysar Boaz, Berkovits Michael J, Wilson Timothy D
Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University, Princeton, MA 02138, USA.
J Exp Psychol Gen. 2007 Nov;136(4):700-9. doi: 10.1037/0096-3445.136.4.700.
The hedonic benefit of a gain (e.g., receiving $100) may be increased by segregating it into smaller units that are distributed over time (e.g., receiving $50 on each of 2 days). However, if these units are too small (e.g., receiving 1 cent on each of 10,000 days), they may fall beneath the person's hedonic limen and have no hedonic benefit at all. Do people know where their limens lie? In 6 experiments, participants predicted that the hedonic benefit of a large gain would be increased by segregating it into smaller units, and they were right; but participants also predicted that the hedonic benefit of a small gain would be increased by segregating it into smaller units, and they were wrong. Segregation of small gains decreased rather than increased hedonic benefit. These experiments suggest that people may underestimate the value of the hedonic limen and thus may oversegregate small gains.
通过将一笔收益（如获得100美元）分割成在不同时间分配的较小单位（如在两天里每天获得50美元），可能会增加其享乐收益。然而，如果这些单位太小（如在10000天里每天获得1美分），它们可能会低于个人的享乐阈限，从而根本没有享乐收益。人们知道自己的阈限在哪里吗？在6项实验中，参与者预测，将一笔大收益分割成较小单位会增加其享乐收益，他们是正确的；但参与者还预测，将一笔小收益分割成较小单位也会增加其享乐收益，而他们是错误的。分割小收益会降低而非增加享乐收益。这些实验表明，人们可能低估了享乐阈限的价值，因此可能过度分割小收益。
