Imagine that time preference decisions can be made on a series of levels.
❓If you are a low to medium time preference individual, which time preference level, on average, is most important to how you make decisions?
Time Preference LevelsTime Preference Levels
Individual The person makes future-based decisions for themself as the main recipient of the decisions.
For example, if i save value, i will enjoy these savings in 10 years. If i exercise, i will be healthier in 10 years. If i save time on x activity, i will have more time for myself. If i pick up litter, i will be happier tomorrow when i walk by this path again. When i buy stuff, i care about price and quality.
Family/ Small Social Unit The person makes future-based decisions for their family unit or small social units (friends, neighbours, church).
For example, if i save value, my family/ social unit will have more to act with in the next 10 years. If i exercise, i will have more to give to my family/ social unit in the next 10 years. If i save time on x activity, i will have more time for my people. If i pick up litter, my neighbours will be happier tomorrow when they walk by this path again. When i buy stuff, i care about price and quality and impact on my family/ small social unit.
Macro The person makes future-based decisions with the hope of having impact on a larger recipient group (city, province, ecosystem, and the like).
For example, if i save value, my community will have more to act with in the next 10 years. If i exercise, i will drive down costs that my taxes pay for my healthcare (for example in Canada). When i buy stuff, i care about price and quality, materials and how they were extracted and processed, as well as impact on the people who created it along the full supply chain.
ContextContext
In a previous poll, i asked what level of time preference people have on average.
We learned approx 42% of those who responded say their behaviour is, in general, of a low to medium time preference.
Here i wanted to drill deeper to understand what decision-making goes into time preference abstraction.
I would argue that we are all to an extent all of the above. But it’s very nuanced and so tricky to categorise.
To get better insights you may need a lengthier survey to group respondents into these categories. Questions may be easier to answer that way, without the context. But I know SN doesn’t yet facilitate 30-question surveys 😄
E.g: am I willing to delay a purchase:
E.g: am I willing to spend half a day a week to educate/help
Brilliant insight - i tried to create a minimum viable assessment as best i could
Makes sense. If I had to pigeon hole myself though, I’d probably say I’m still wedged between Individual & Small Social Unit.
And we definitely shift around these depending on context and stage of life
I would like to be high time preference but at the same time I would love to be counted among family/small social unit.
Surely you'd like to be low time preference?
High time preference means that you highly value when you get things or do things, hence you want them sooner rather than later.
Low time preference means you aren't so concerned about when you get things or do things, and so are more willing to wait and build things up for the future.
I think OP meant high time pref
They want to be high time pref and yolo thru life, but have social commitments that motivate mid to low time pref behaviours
Ah, that makes a lot more sense. I think we all feel like that at times, the high time preference path is the easiest.
Ah the dance of morals!
Family for me. And I actually am going through something similar. So I intend to uproot myself in my current school and start life afresh in a primary school, hopefully two years later. This is because my boy will turn 7, so I want to enrol him into the same primary school I will be teaching at. I hope that this low time preference decision that I make will pay off in the future when my personal and professional lives are more aligned, thus allowing me to devote more energy to myself and the education fraternity. Does that make sense?
Good question! 🙋♂️
This makes total sense. You're willing to experience short term personal pain from uplifting to potentially pay dividends for the family!
I am not big brained enough to fully understand the macro level, but I am aware of what I can control beyond myself. While planning for yourself on an individual level will always lead to the most results I do think that you are always stronger together so that's mostly why I focus on my family. Doesn't hurt that I'm in a position as a dad where most of my life is now taken up by the family but beyond that I think I am capable of making the most impact in a small role.
That makes total sense - especially as people transition into parenthood