A thread through the archive
Essays tagged “time discounting”. Follow an idea across the archive.
Scott explains how thoughts and intentions are reinforced separately from actions, using B.F. Skinner's concept of "mental behavior" to show why people often intend to do things but never actually do them.
Scott explains time and effort discounting through examples like candy placement affecting consumption, argues that hyperbolic discounting creates preference reversals, and suggests these are better understood as reward functions rather than true preferences.