We gather survey evidence for the influence of the
HEXACO personality traits on the phenomenon of hyperbolic discounting. We also
consider the demographics of age, sex, income and education, and evaluate how
these interact with personality and hyperbolic discounting. Due to a sampling
technique of “snowball”, we assembled a sample of well-educated and relatively
wealthy adults from both sexes. Most respondents escaped hyperbolic
discounting, and for those affected there was no “magnitude effect”. Those
participants showing higher conscientiousness were less hyperbolic. Moreover,
those more open to experience who were more extroverted at the same time were
also less hyperbolic. We also detail how such personality traits influence
hyperbolic discounting mediated by the demographics of age, sex, income and
educational attainment. Thus,
conscientiousness, openness to experience and extraversion are traits
that contribute to rational decisions in intertemporal choice in our sample, in
that participants with these personality traits are less hyperbolic.
Cite this paper
Silva, S. D. , Faveri, D. D. and Matsushita, R. (2017). Personality Influences Hyperbolic Discounting. Open Access Library Journal, 4, e3998. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/oalib.1103998.
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