{"title":"Does future time reference framing increase temporal discounting? Evidence from English monolinguals","authors":"Josie I. Chen , Yue Han , Tai-Sen He","doi":"10.1016/j.joep.2025.102796","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Despite growing support for the linguistic-savings hypothesis (LSH), direct causal evidence remains limited. Recent research has investigated whether future time reference framing affects intertemporal decision-making, particularly in languages with weak future-time-reference (w-FTR) distinctions, though these studies have largely yielded null results. One critique of these null results is that speakers of w-FTR languages may be insensitive to the subtle language framing intended to prime distinctions between present and future, unlike speakers of strong future-time-reference (s-FTR) languages. To address this gap, the present study re-examines the framing effect within English, an s-FTR language, using a sample of nearly 600 monolingual participants. Consistent with previous findings, the results provide no evidence supporting the LSH in the context of future time reference framing.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48318,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Economic Psychology","volume":"107 ","pages":"Article 102796"},"PeriodicalIF":2.5000,"publicationDate":"2025-01-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Economic Psychology","FirstCategoryId":"96","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016748702500008X","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"ECONOMICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Despite growing support for the linguistic-savings hypothesis (LSH), direct causal evidence remains limited. Recent research has investigated whether future time reference framing affects intertemporal decision-making, particularly in languages with weak future-time-reference (w-FTR) distinctions, though these studies have largely yielded null results. One critique of these null results is that speakers of w-FTR languages may be insensitive to the subtle language framing intended to prime distinctions between present and future, unlike speakers of strong future-time-reference (s-FTR) languages. To address this gap, the present study re-examines the framing effect within English, an s-FTR language, using a sample of nearly 600 monolingual participants. Consistent with previous findings, the results provide no evidence supporting the LSH in the context of future time reference framing.
期刊介绍:
The Journal aims to present research that will improve understanding of behavioral, in particular psychological, aspects of economic phenomena and processes. The Journal seeks to be a channel for the increased interest in using behavioral science methods for the study of economic behavior, and so to contribute to better solutions of societal problems, by stimulating new approaches and new theorizing about economic affairs. Economic psychology as a discipline studies the psychological mechanisms that underlie economic behavior. It deals with preferences, judgments, choices, economic interaction, and factors influencing these, as well as the consequences of judgements and decisions for economic processes and phenomena. This includes the impact of economic institutions upon human behavior and well-being. Studies in economic psychology may relate to different levels of aggregation, from the household and the individual consumer to the macro level of whole nations. Economic behavior in connection with inflation, unemployment, taxation, economic development, as well as consumer information and economic behavior in the market place are thus among the fields of interest. The journal also encourages submissions dealing with social interaction in economic contexts, like bargaining, negotiation, or group decision-making. The Journal of Economic Psychology contains: (a) novel reports of empirical (including: experimental) research on economic behavior; (b) replications studies; (c) assessments of the state of the art in economic psychology; (d) articles providing a theoretical perspective or a frame of reference for the study of economic behavior; (e) articles explaining the implications of theoretical developments for practical applications; (f) book reviews; (g) announcements of meetings, conferences and seminars.