Delayed Gratification and Risk Aversion

Photo credit: Discover Magazine

"Patience is a virtue" 

People are chastened from an early age to exhibit self-discipline with regards to present versus future payoffs. This is an important lesson, and one that all-too-often seems to fall on deaf ears. Though a regimen of diet and exercise is sure to cause weight loss in a healthy person, and this information is known to almost everyone, 35% of persons are overweight. Debt is palatable to very few, but it is much more prevalent - more than half of Americans have carried an unpaid credit card balance in the last year, and 15% have a total balance exceeding $10,000. Every human being makes choices that appear contrary to his or her long-term welfare on an almost daily basis.

What if I don't like marshmallows?

he's not coming back.

Mr. Cable & Mr. McGuire posit that it may not be an issue of strong versus weak will after all, but rather a rational decision making process by our subconscious.

In their study, people who were guaranteed a better outcome in the future were much more likely to wait. What is revealed is that people's decisions to delay gratification are rational decisions based on uncertainty - if you've waited a long time for something (perhaps a pet bird to fly back home, or a rerun of your favorite tv show to air), it may be that it becomes less likely that you'll actually get it. Rather than being characterized as weakness for giving up, it could be discribed as an efficient use of time, waiting for something likely to actually happen.

source article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/17/opinion/sunday/youre-so-self-controlling.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0

Chart the Course

This research presents an opportunity for people to use this behavior to their advantage. Commenter Karen in the New York Times article mentioned that in her quest to quit smoking cigarettes, the most instrumental resource was a graph detailing the intensity of cigarette cravings by time. When faced with a powerful urge three weeks after quitting, she was able to press on knowing that the feeling was very likely to pass soon.

Taking some of the risk out of waiting could do rational people a whole lot of good. It is already seen some places - parents sometimes offer concrete rewards to their children for earning good grades in school, so they have something to put off fun for, rather than the intangible benefits of education that they may not comprehend.

SOURCE: http://www.improvevia.com/assets/~uploads/img/028/cab8d70ebffa73fe25_full.jpg

I propose that we utilize this information to plan out the difficult things we all must wait for. To lose weight, note the times when no weight is actually lost, and when the results start to show. When shopping, we can chart how many throw pillows cost one vacation, and then how many of the things we normally buy. And finally, we can remove the stigma from people who have given in - and instead focus on giving them (and often ourselves) the tools needed to succeed.