Kelley Nicholas J, Schmeichel Brandon J
Northwestern University, Department of Psychology, Evanston, Illinois, United States of America.
Texas A&M University, Department of Psychology, College Station, Texas, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2015 Dec 2;10(12):e0144228. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0144228. eCollection 2015.
The current study tested competing predictions regarding the effect of mortality salience on delay discounting. One prediction, based on evolutionary considerations, was that reminders of death increase the value of the present. Another prediction, based in part on construal level theory, was that reminders of death increase the value of the future. One-hundred eighteen participants thought about personal mortality or a control topic and then completed an inter-temporal choice task pitting the chance to gain $50 now against increasingly attractive rewards three months later. Consistent with the hypothesis inspired by construal theory, participants in the mortality salience condition traded $50 now for $66.67 in three months, whereas participants in the dental pain salience condition required $72.84 in three months in lieu of $50 now. Thus, participants in the mortality salience condition discounted future monetary gains less than other participants, suggesting that thoughts of death may increase the subjective value of the future.
当前的研究检验了关于死亡凸显对延迟折扣影响的相互矛盾的预测。一种基于进化考量的预测是，对死亡的提醒会增加当下的价值。另一种部分基于解释水平理论的预测是，对死亡的提醒会增加未来的价值。118名参与者思考了个人死亡或一个对照主题，然后完成了一项跨期选择任务，该任务让现在获得50美元的机会与三个月后越来越有吸引力的奖励相竞争。与建构理论启发的假设一致，处于死亡凸显条件下的参与者现在用50美元换取三个月后的66.67美元，而处于牙痛凸显条件下的参与者三个月后需要72.84美元来代替现在的50美元。因此，处于死亡凸显条件下的参与者对未来金钱收益的折扣低于其他参与者，这表明对死亡的思考可能会增加未来的主观价值。
