The preference for smaller-sooner rewards over larger-delayed ones (temporal discounting, TD) has been suggested to be influenced by religiosity, through its role in enhancing self-control. Here we investigate this issue in Muslims, Catholics, and two control groups of Italian and Iranian atheists, by measuring implicit religiosity (implicit association test, IAT) and the cognitive dynamics underlying TD (using mouse tracking). Results showed that Muslims are the most farsighted, while Catholics are the most shortsighted and both atheists’ groups fall in between these two extremes; additionally, these results are also shaped by implicit religiosity (IAT). Mouse tracking analyses reveal that Muslims show higher cognitive conflict compared to the other groups, which arises only in later stages of processing. This indicates that farsighted behavior in Muslims requires the recruitment of self-control in order to regulate intertemporal decision-making. Our findings suggest that the highly demanding religious precepts enforced in (most) Islamic communities may help strengthen self-control abilities.
AlessiS. M.PetryN. M. (2003). Pathological gambling severity is associated with impulsivity in a delay discounting procedure. Behavioral Processes, 64(3), 345–354. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0376-6357(03)00150-5
3.
AllcottH.GreenstoneM. (2012). Is there an energy efficiency gap?Journal of Economic Perspectives, 26(1), 3–28.
4.
Audrain-McGovernJ.RodriguezD.EpsteinL. H.CuevasJ.RodgersK.WileytoE. P. (2009a). Does delay discounting play an etiological role in smoking or is it a consequence of smoking?Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 103(3), 99–106. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2008.12.019
5.
Audrain-McGovernJ.RodriguezD.EpsteinL. H.RodgersK.CuevasJ.WileytoE. P. (2009b). Young adult smoking: What factors differentiate ex-smokers, smoking cessation treatment seekers and nontreatment seekers?Addictive Behaviors, 34(12), 1036–1041. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2009.06.012
6.
BaayenR. H.DavidsonD. J.BatesD. M. (2008). Mixed-effects modeling with crossed random effects for subjects and items. Journal of Memory and Language, 59(4), 390–412. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2007.12.005
7.
BallardK.KnutsonB. (2009). Dissociable neural representations of future reward magnitude and delay during temporal discounting. NeuroImage, 45(1), 143–150. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2008.11.004
BartelsD. M.UrminskyO. (2011). On intertemporal selfishness: How the perceived instability of identity underlies impatient consumption. Journal of Consumer Research, 38(1), 182–198. https://doi.org/10.1086/658339
10.
BatesD. M.MächlerM.BolkerB.WalkerS. (2015). Fitting linear mixed-effects models using lme4. Journal of Statistical Software, 67(1). https://doi.org/10.18637/jss.v067.i01
11.
BernsG. S.LaibsonD.LoewensteinG. (2007). Intertemporal choice – toward an integrative framework. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 11(11), 482–488. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2007.08.011
12.
BickelW. K.JarmolowiczD. P.MuellerE. T.KoffarnusM. N.GatchalianK. M. (2012). Excessive discounting of delayed reinforcers as a trans-disease process contributing to addiction and other disease-related vulnerabilities: Emerging evidence. Pharmacology and Therapeutics, 134(3), 287–297. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pharmthera.2012.02.004
13.
BradfordW. D. (2010). The association between individual time preferences and health maintenance habits. Medical Decision Making, 30(1), 99–112. https://doi.org/10.1177/0272989X09342276
14.
CallusoC.CommitteriG.PezzuloG.LeporaN.TosoniA. (2015a). Analysis of hand kinematics reveals inter-individual differences in intertemporal decision dynamics. Experimental Brain Research, 233(12), 3597–3611. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-015-4427-1
15.
CallusoC.TosoniA.PezzuloG.SpadoneS.CommitteriG. (2015b). Interindividual variability in functional connectivity as long-term correlate of temporal discounting. PLoS One, 10, e0119710.
16.
CallusoC.TosoniA.FortunatoG.CommitteriG. (2017). Can you change my preferences? Effect of social influence on intertemporal choice behavior. Behavioural Brain Research, 330, 78–84. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbr.2017.05.001
17.
CallusoC.SaulinA.BaumgartnerT.KnochD. (2018). Distinct patterns of cognitive conflict dynamics in promise keepers and promise breakers. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00939
18.
CallusoC.TosoniA.CannitoL.CommitteriG. (2019). Concreteness and emotional valence of episodic future thinking (EFT) independently affect the dynamics of intertemporal decisions. PLoS One, 14(5), e0217224. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.7072568
19.
CallusoC.PettorrusoM.TosoniA.CarentiM. L.CannitoL.MartinottiG.Di GiannantonioM.CommitteriG. (2020). Cognitive dynamics of intertemporal choice in gambling disorder. Addictive Behaviors, 109, 106463. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2020.106463
20.
CarterE. C.McCulloughM. E.Kim-SpoonJ.CorralesC.BlakeA. (2012). Religious people discount the future less. Evolution and Human Behavior, 33(3), 224–231. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2011.09.006
21.
CastilloM.FerraroP. J.JordanJ. L.PetrieR. (2011). The today and tomorrow of kids: Time preferences and educational outcomes of children. Journal of Public Economics, 95(11–12), 1377–1385. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpubeco.2011.07.009
22.
CattaneoZ.MattavelliG.PlataniaE.PapagnoC. (2011). The role of the prefrontal cortex in controlling gender-stereotypical associations: A TMS investigation. NeuroImage, 56(3), 1839–1846. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.02.037
23.
ChabrisC. F.LaibsonD. I.SchuldtJ. P. (2008). Intertemporal choice. In DurlaufS. N.BlumeL. E. (Eds.), The new palgrave dictionary of economics (2nd ed.). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230226203.0843
24.
CrescentiniC.AgliotiS. M.FabbroF.UrgesiC. (2014). Virtual lesions of the inferior parietal cortex induce fast changes of implicit religiousness/spirituality. Cortex, 54(1), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2014.01.023
DixonM. R.BuonoF. D.BelisleJ. (2016). Contrived motivating operations alter delay-discounting values of disordered gamblers. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 4(4), 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1002/jaba.335
27.
FaulF.ErdfelderE.LangA.BuchnerA. (2007). G* power 3: A flexible statistical power analysis program for the social, behavioral, and biomedical sciences. Behavior Research Methods, 39(2), 175–191.
28.
FignerB.KnochD.JohnsonE. J.KroschA. R.LisanbyS. H.FehrE.WeberE. U. (2010). Lateral prefrontal cortex and self-control in intertemporal choice. Nature Neuroscience, 13(5), 538–539. https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.2516
29.
FreemanJ. B.AmbadyN. (2010). MouseTracker: software for studying real-time mental processing using a computer mouse-tracking method. Behavior Research Methods, 42(1), 226–241. https://doi.org/10.3758/BRM.42.1.226
FrydmanC.CamererC. F. (2016). The psychology and neuroscience of financial decision making. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 20(9), 661–675. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2016.07.003
32.
GianottiL. R. R.FignerB.EbsteinR. P.KnochD.RichardP. (2012). Why some people discount more than others: Baseline activation in the dorsal PFC mediates the link between COMT genotype and impatient choice. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 6(54), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2012.00054
33.
GreenL.MyersonJ. (1996). Exponential versus hyperbolic discounting of delayed outcomes: Risk and waiting time. American Zoologist, 505(January1995), 496–505.
34.
GreenL.MyersonJ.LichtmanD.RosenS.FryA. F. (1996). Temporal discounting in choice between delayed rewards: the role of age and income. Psychology and Aging, 11(1), 79–84.
35.
GreenwaldA. G.FarnhamS. D. (2000). Using the implicit association test to measure self-esteem and self-concept. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79(6), 1022–1038. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.79.6.1022
36.
GreenwaldA. G.McgheeD. E.SchwartzJ. L. K. (1998). Measuring individual differences in implicit cognition: The implicit association test. Journal of Personality and Soclal Psychology, 74(6), 1464–1480. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.74.6.1464
37.
GreenwaldA. G.NosekB. A.BanajiM. R. (2003). Understanding and using the implicit association test: I. An improved scoring algorithm. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85(2), 197–216. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.85.2.197
38.
GregoryS.LaibsonD.LoewensteinG.LinkC.BernsG. S. (2007). Intertemporal choice – toward an integrative framework. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 11(11), 482–488. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2007.08.011
39.
HansenE. C. A.BattagliaD.SpieglerA.DecoG.JirsaV. K. (2015). Functional connectivity dynamics: Modeling the switching behavior of the resting state. NeuroImage, 105, 525–535. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2014.11.001
40.
HareT. A.CamererC. F.RangelA. (2009). Self-control in decision-making involves modulation of the vmPFC valuation system. Science, 324(5927), 646–648. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1168450
41.
IodiceP.CallusoC.BarcaL.BertolloM.RipariP.PezzuloG. (2017). Fatigue increases the perception of future effort during decision making. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 33, 150–160. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2017.08.013
42.
JohnsonA.van der MeerM. A.RedishA. D. (2007). Integrating hippocampus and striatum in decision-making. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 17(6), 692–697. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conb.2008.01.003
43.
KableJ. W.GlimcherP. W. (2007). The neural correlates of subjective value during intertemporal choice. Nature Neuroscience, 10(12), 1625–1633. https://doi.org/10.1038/nn2007
KalivasP. W.VolkowN. D. (2005). The neural basis of addiction: A pathology of motivation and choice. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 162(8), 1403–1413.
46.
KayA. C.GaucherD.NapierJ. L.CallanM. J.LaurinK. (2008). God and the government: Testing a compensatory control mechanism for the support of external systems. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95(1), 18–35. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.95.1.18
47.
KayA. C.LaurinK.FitzsimonsG. M.LandauM. J. (2014). A functional basis for structure-seeking: Exposure to structure promotes willingness to engage in motivated action. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 143(2), 486–491. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0034462
48.
Kim-SpoonJ.McculloughM. E.BickelW. K.FarleyJ. P.LongoG. S. (2015). Longitudinal associations among religiousness, delay discounting, and substance use initiation in early adolescence. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 25(1), 36–43. https://doi.org/10.1111/jora.12104
49.
KirbyK. N.PetryN. M. (2004). Heroin and cocaine abusers have higher discount rates for delayed rewards than alcoholics or non-drug-using controls. Addiction, 99(4), 461–471.
50.
KirbyK. N.PetryN. M.BickelW. K. (1999). Heroin addicts have higher discount rates for delayed rewards than non-drug-using controls. Journal of Experimental Psychology. General Psychology, 121(1), 78–87.
51.
KoffarnusM. N.JarmolowiczD. P.MuellerE. T.BickelW. K. (2013). Changing delay discounting in the light of the competing neurobehavioral decision systems theory: A review. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 99(1), 32–57. https://doi.org/10.1002/jeab.2
52.
KooleS. L.McCulloughM. E.KuhlJ.RoelofsmaP. H. M. P. (2010). Why religion’s burdens are light: from religiosity to implicit self-regulation. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 14(1), 95–107. https://doi.org/10.1177/1088868309351109
53.
LaBouffJ. P.RowattW. C.JohnsonM. K.TsangJ. A.WillertonG. M. C. (2012). Humble persons are more helpful than less humble persons: Evidence from three studies. Journal of Positive Psychology, 7(1), 16–29. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2011.626787
54.
LaBouffJ. P.RowattW. C.Johnson ShenM. K.ThedfordM.TsangJ. A. (2010). Development and initial validation of an implicit measure of religiousness-spirituality. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 49(3), 439–455. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-5906.2010.01521.x
55.
LaibsonD. (1997). Golden eggs and hyperbolic discounting. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 62, 443–477.
56.
LandauM. J.KayA. C.WhitsonJ. A. (2015). Compensatory control and the appeal of a structured world. Psychological Bulletin, 141(3), 694–722. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0038703
57.
LandauM. J.KhenferJ.KeeferL. A.SwansonT. J.KayA. C. (2018). When and why does belief in a controlling God strengthen goal commitment?Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 75(October2017), 71–82. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2017.11.012
58.
LiN.MaN.LiuY.HeX.-S.SunD.-L.FuX.-M.ZhangX.HanS.ZhangD.-R. (2013). Resting-state functional connectivity predicts impulsivity in economic decision-making. Journal of Neuroscience, 33(11), 4886–4895. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1342-12.2013
59.
MacKillopJ.AndersonE. J.CasteldaB. A.MattsonR. E.DonovickP. J.AndersonE. J.MattsonR. E. (2006). Divergent validity of measures of cognitive distortions, impulsivity, and time perspective in pathological gambling. Journal of Gambling Studies, 22(3), 339–354. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10899-006-9021-9
60.
MaddenG. J.PetryN. M.BadgerG. J.BickelW. K. (1997). Impulsive and self-control choices in opioid-dependent patients and non-drug-using control participants: drug and monetary rewards. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology, 5(3), 256–262.
61.
ManningJ.HeddenT.WickensN.Whitfield-GabrieliS.PrelecD.GabrieliJ. D. E. (2014). Personality influences temporal discounting preferences: Behavioral and brain evidence. NeuroImage, 98, 42–49. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2014.04.066
62.
MazurJ. E. (1987). An adjusting procedure for studying delayed reinforcement. In CommonsM.MazurJ.NevinJ.RachlinH. (Eds.), Quantitative analysis of behavior: Vol. 5. The effect of delay and of intervening events of reinforcement value (Vol. 5, pp. 57–73). Erlbaum.
63.
McClureS. M.LaibsonD. I.LoewensteinG.CohenJ. D. (2004). Separate neural systems value immediate and delayed monetary rewards. Science, 306(5695), 503–507. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1100907
64.
MeierS.SprengerC. (2010). Present-biased preferences and credit card borrowing. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 2(1), 193–210. https://doi.org/10.1257/app.2.1.193
O’HoraD. O.CareyR.KervickA.CrowleyD.DabrowskiM. (2016). Decisions in motion: Decision dynamics during intertemporal choice reflect subjective evaluation of delayed rewards. Scientific Reports, 6, 20740. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep20740
67.
O’HoraD. O.DaleR.PiiroinenP. T.ConnollyF. (2013a). Local dynamics in decision making: The evolution of preference within and across decisions. Scientific Reports, 3, 2210. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep02210
68.
O’HoraD. O.DuranN. D.DaleR.FreemanJ. B.HallM.TomlinsonJ. M. (2013b). Scales of Cognition Evident in Action. Proceedings of the 35th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, 97–98.
69.
PaglieriF.BorghiA. M.ColzatoL. S.HommelB.ScorolliC. (2013). Heaven can wait. How religion modulates temporal discounting. Psychological Research, 77(6), 738–747. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-012-0473-5
70.
PetersJ.BuchelC. (2011). The neural mechanisms of inter-temporal decision-making: understanding variability. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 15(5), 227–239. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2011.03.002
PetersJ.BüchelC. (2010b). Episodic future thinking reduces reward delay discounting through an enhancement of prefrontal-mediotemporal interactions. Neuron, 66(1), 138–148. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2010.03.026
73.
PetryN. M. (2001). Delay discounting of money and alcohol in actively using alcoholics, currently abstinent alcoholics, and controls. Psychopharmacology, 154(3), 243–250. https://doi.org/10.1007/s002130000638
74.
Pew Research Center. (2018). The age gap in religion around the world. June13, pp. 224–234.
75.
QuétardB.QuintonJ. C.MermillodM.BarcaL.PezzuloG.ColombM.IzauteM. (2016). Differential effects of visual uncertainty and contextual guidance on perceptual decisions: Evidence from eye and mouse tracking in visual search. Journal of Vision, 16(11), 28. https://doi.org/10.1167/16.11.28
76.
QuintonJ.VolpiN. C.BarcaL.PezzuloG. (2013). The cat is on the mat. Or is it a dog? Dynamic competition in perceptual decision making. IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, Part A: Systems, 44(5), 539–551.
77.
R Core Team. (2014). R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing.
78.
RangelA.CamererC.MontagueP. R. (2008). A framework for studying the neurobiology of value-based decision making. Nature Reviews. Neuroscience, 9(7), 545–556. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn2357
79.
SasseL. K.PetersJ.BrassenS. (2017). Cognitive control modulates effects of episodic simulation on delay discounting in aging. Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, 9(58), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnagi.2017.00058
80.
ScherbaumS.FrischS.LeibergS.LadeS. J.GoschkeT.DshemuchadseM. (2016). Process dynamics in delay discounting decisions : An attractor dynamics approach. Judgement and Decision Making, 11(5), 472–495.
81.
SchnabelK.AsendorpfJ. B.GreenwaldA. G. (2008). Assessment of individual differences in implicit cognition: A review of IAT measures. European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 24(4), 210–217. https://doi.org/10.1027/1015-5759.24.4.210
82.
SchoenfelderT. E.HantulaD. (2003). A job with a future? Delay discounting, magnitude effects, and domain independence of utility for career decisions. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 62, 43–55. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0001-8791(02)00032-5
SellittoM.CiaramelliE.di PellegrinoG. (2010). Myopic Discounting of Future Rewards after Medial Orbitofrontal Damage in Humans. Journal of Neuroscience, 30(49), 16429–16436. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2516-10.2010
85.
SellittoM.CiaramelliE.MattioliF.di PellegrinoG. (2016). Reduced sensitivity to sooner reward during intertemporal decision-making following insula damage in humans. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 9(367), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2015.00367
86.
SpiveyM. (2007). The continuity of mind. Oxford University Press.
87.
StoryG. W.VlaevI.SeymourB.DarziA.DolanR. J. (2014). Does temporal discounting explain unhealthy behavior? A systematic review and reinforcement learning perspective. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 8(76), 1–20. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2014.00076
88.
TabatabaeianM.DaleR.DuranN. D. (2015). Self-serving dishonest decisions can show facilitated cognitive dynamics. Cognitive Processing, 16(3), 291–300. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-015-0660-6
89.
van den BosW.McClureS. M. (2013). Towards a general model of temporal discounting. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 99(1), 58–73. https://doi.org/10.1002/jeab.6
90.
van den BosW.RodriguezC. aSchweitzerJ. B.McClureS. M. (2014). Connectivity strength of dissociable striatal tracts predict individual differences in temporal discounting. The Journal of Neuroscience, 34(31), 10298–10310. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4105-13.2014
91.
VuchinichR. E.SimpsonC. A. (1999). Delayed-reward discounting in alcohol abuse. In ChaloupkaF. J.GrossmanM.BickelW. K.SafferH. (Eds.), The economic analysis of substance Use and Abuse: an integration of econometrics and behavioral economic research (pp. 103–122). The University of Chicago Press. https://doi.org/10.3386/w6410
92.
WeatherlyJ. N.PlummK. M. (2012). Delay discounting as a function of intrinsic/extrinsic religiousness, religious fundamentalism, and regular church attendance. The Journal of General Psychology, 139(3), 117–133. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221309.2012.672937
93.
ZaubermanG.KimB. K.MalkocS. A.BettmanJ. R. (2009). Discounting time and time discounting: Subjective time perception and intertemporal preferences. Journal of Marketing Research, 96(4), 543–556. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107415324.004
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
