What a Later Reward Is Worth

Two curves and one choice

Read for meaning first. Select a highlighted word if you want a closer look.

Nina practiced delayed gratification by postponing an afternoon game so she could finish the costume she wanted for a later celebration. In her class's exponential discounting model, the value assigned to a future reward fell by the same proportional factor for each additional equal interval of waiting. A separate hyperbolic discounting model showed a sharper fall over short delays and a more gradual fall over longer ones. Nina compared the curves without assuming that either graph fully explained her personal choice.

The class discussed delayed gratification as a decision to postpone an immediate pleasure for a benefit valued more highly later, not as a promise that waiting always succeeds. The exponential discounting exercise kept its proportional reduction constant as students moved along equal time intervals. The hyperbolic discounting exercise used a different pattern, with the effect of additional delay becoming less pronounced farther out. Nina's account supplied a concrete choice to examine, while the models supplied assumptions that students could compare.

Original fictional passages for vocabulary practice.