The impact of social comparison cues on intertemporal choice

Intertemporal choice involves trading off outcomes that occur at different points in time, typically between a smaller-sooner (SS) and a larger-later (LL) gain. This project examines whether intertemporal preferences change when choices are made in a social context where outcomes for oneself and another person are jointly specified, making self–other comparison information salient at the moment of choice. Participants complete the same set of intertemporal trade-offs under one of three between-subject decision frames: choosing for oneself, choosing for another person, or choosing under an explicit social comparison cue. In the self condition, each trial presents SS versus LL for the participant. In the other condition, the same SS–LL trade-offs apply to another participant. In the social comparison condition, each option jointly specifies outcomes for both people (e.g., self-SS + other-LL vs. self-LL + other-SS), so selecting one option determines both one’s own payoff and the other person’s payoff. By comparing these frames, we test whether embedding self–other comparison within the choice set increases the tendency to choose LL for the self. In this Study, we revise the stimulus set to make LL options more attractive overall, aiming to better distinguish a comparison-based shift in valuation from the possibility that participants treat the social comparison task primarily as a decision about the other person.