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Nudge to the future: capitalizing on illusory superiority bias to mitigate temporal discounting

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Abstract

Policymakers and institutions have developed an increasing interest in applying principles from cognitive science to encourage individuals to adopt behaviors, attitudes and perspectives that enable them to reach higher levels of personal and collective well-being. We focused on the value of nudging people to adopt a broader farsighted view when making their day-to-day decisions, overcoming the temporal discounting bias which leads them to prefer smaller immediate gains to larger future rewards. Following recent advances in the literature, we tried to mitigate this myopia promoting the connection that individuals feel between their present and future selves through a nudge which capitalizes on their natural tendency to illusory superiority. We defined and tested a paradigm to exploit persuasively this optimistic bias to mitigate temporal discounting through the mediation of an increased future self-continuity. Implications for well-being and public policies are discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neuroscience, Imaging and Clinical Sciences, University of Chieti-Pescara, Via Dei Vestini 33, Chieti, Italy

    Davide Pietroni

  2. CLA, University of Padova, Via Venezia 16, 35131, Padova, Italy

    Sibylla Verdi Hughes

Authors
  1. Davide Pietroni
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  2. Sibylla Verdi Hughes
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Correspondence to Davide Pietroni.

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Pietroni, D., Hughes, S.V. Nudge to the future: capitalizing on illusory superiority bias to mitigate temporal discounting. Mind Soc 15, 247–264 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11299-016-0193-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11299-016-0193-4

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