Abstract
Recent research has suggested that the positive benefits of religiousness that are reported in the literature may be related to “self-control.” The present study attempted to determine whether religiousness, as measured by self reporting of regularly attending church services, would be related to how participants discount delayed outcomes. Three hundred one university students completed a delay-discounting task involving five commodities ($1,000, $100,000, annual retirement income, federal education legislation, and medical treatment). Participants who reported regularly attending church services discounted both monetary amounts significantly more than did participants who reported not regularly attending church services, indicating that church goers placed less value on those commodities than non-church goers. Rates of delay discounting did not differ between groups for the other commodities. These results suggest that religiousness alters how people frame certain decisions involving delayed outcomes, but not others.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Baumeister, R. F., & Alquist, J. L. (2009). Is there a downside to good self-control? Self and Identity, 8, 115–130.
Chapman, G. B. (1996). Temporal discounting and utility for health and money. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 22, 771–791.
Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Hillsdale: Erlbaum.
Dixon, M. R., Marley, J., & Jacobs, E. A. (2003). Delay discounting by pathological gamblers. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 36, 449–458.
Logue, A. W. (1995). Self-control: Waiting until tomorrow for tomorrow for what you want today. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall.
Mazur, J. E. (1987). An adjusting procedure for studying delayed reinforcement. In M. L. Commons, J. E. Mazur, J. A. Nevin, & H. Rachlin (Eds.), Quantitative analyses of behavior: vol. 5. The effect of delay and intervening events on reinforcement value (pp. 55–73). Hillsdale: Erlbaum.
McCullough, M. E., & Willoughby, B. L. B. (2009). Religion, self-regulation, and self-control: associations, explanations, and implications. Psychological Bulletin, 135, 69–93.
Mischel, W., Shoda, Y., & Rodriguez, M. L. (1989). Delay of gratification in children. Science, 244, 933–938.
Myerson, J., & Green, L. (1995). Discounting of delayed rewards: models of individual choice. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 64, 263–276.
Myerson, J., Green, L., & Warusawitharana, M. (2001). Area under the curve as a measure of discounting. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 76, 235–243.
Odum, A. L., Madden, G. J., & Bickel, W. K. (2002). Discounting of delayed health gains and losses by current, never- and ex-smokers of cigarettes. Nicotine & Tobacco Research, 4, 295–303.
Smith, C. L., & Hantula, D. A. (2008). Methodological considerations in the study of delay discounting in intertemporal choice: a comparison of tasks and modes. Behavior Research Methods, 40, 940–953.
Weatherly, J. N., Terrell, H. K., & Derenne, A. (2010). Delay discounting of different commodities. Journal of General Psychology, 137, 273–286.
Acknowledgement
The authors thank Adam Derenne for his assistance in data preparation and Adam B. Cohen for his assistance in collecting background information.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Appendix
The identical questions were also used in Weatherly et al. (2010)
Appendix
X times = 1 week, 2 weeks, 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, 5 years, and 10 years
Owes You $1,000
If someone owed you $1,000 and was going to pay you that amount in X time, what is the smallest amount of money you would accept today rather than having to wait X time?
Owes You $100,000
If someone owed you $100,000 and was going to pay you that amount in X time, what is the smallest amount of money you would accept today rather than having to wait X time?
Retirement
Your financial advisor informs you that you could retire at a wage of $100,000 per year but that you need to work for X time before that is possible. What is the smallest annual amount of money you would accept today rather than having to work X time?
Medical Treatment
Suppose you were suffering from a serious disease and your physician informed you that you would need to wait X time before getting a treatment that was 100% successful. However, you could immediately begin a different treatment that has a lesser chance of success. What is the minimum percentage of success that the different treatment could have for you to choose it?
Federal Education Legislation
Suppose the Federal Government is attempting to pass legislation that will reform the American educational system. Your senators tell you that it will take them X time to craft the perfect policy, but that they can pass a less-than-perfect one immediately. What percentage of perfect (i.e., 100%) would you find acceptable to get the legislation passed immediately rather than waiting for X time for the perfect policy?
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Weatherly, J.N., Terrell, H.K. Differences in Delay Discounting of Some Commodities as a Function of Church Attendance. Curr Psychol 30, 258–267 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-011-9115-0
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-011-9115-0