Steep delay and shallow probability discounting are associated with myriad problem behaviors; thus, it is important to understand factors that influence the degree of discounting. The present study evaluated the effects of economic context and reward amount on delay and probability discounting. Two hundred thirteen undergraduate psychology students completed four delay- or probability-discounting tasks. Participants were exposed to hypothetical narratives involving four bank amounts ($750, $12,000, $125,000, and $2,000,000). The delayed/probabilistic amount was $3,000 for the two smaller bank amounts and $500,000 for the two larger bank amounts. The discounting tasks included five delays to, or probabilities of, receipt of the larger amount. The area under the empirical discounting function was calculated for each participant. Participants discounted delayed and uncertain outcomes more when the bank amount was smaller than the outcome (i.e., the economic context was low). Participants discounted the delayed larger amounts less than delayed smaller amounts, even when the relative economic context was the same. In contrast, probability discounting did not differ across magnitudes, which suggests that economic context may attenuate the magnitude effect in probability discounting. The results further highlight the importance of considering the economic context in delay and probability discounting.

中文翻译：

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经济环境和奖励金额对延迟和概率贴现的影响

急剧的延迟和浅的概率贴现与无数的问题行为相关；因此，了解影响折扣程度的因素非常重要。本研究评估了经济背景和奖励金额对延迟和概率贴现的影响。213 名心理学本科生完成了四项延迟贴现或概率贴现任务。参与者接触到涉及四种银行金额（750 美元、12,000 美元、125,000 美元和 2,000,000 美元）的假设叙述。两个较小银行金额的延迟/概率金额为 3,000 美元，两个较大银行金额的延迟/概率金额为 500,000 美元。贴现任务包括五次延迟或可能收到较大金额。计算每个参与者的经验贴现函数下的面积。当银行金额小于结果（即经济背景较低）时，参与者会对延迟和不确定的结果进行更大的贴现。即使相对经济背景相同，参与者对延迟的较大金额的贴现要小于延迟的较小金额的贴现。相比之下，概率贴现在不同幅度之间没有差异，这表明经济背景可能会减弱概率贴现的幅度效应。结果进一步凸显了在延迟和概率贴现中考虑经济背景的重要性。概率贴现在不同幅度之间没有差异，这表明经济背景可能会减弱概率贴现的幅度效应。结果进一步凸显了在延迟和概率贴现中考虑经济背景的重要性。概率贴现在不同幅度之间没有差异，这表明经济背景可能会减弱概率贴现的幅度效应。结果进一步凸显了在延迟和概率贴现中考虑经济背景的重要性。